How can I shorten the time to load cargo in PMDG T7 in P3D?

[Noel]

For some reason it takes very little time to load passengers, but massive time to complete loading cargo.  How can I greatly shorten that?

Thanks!  Love GSX & how it works well w/ FSCaptain too 

[virtuali]

The Timings tab on GSX - Settings, explained on the manual at Page 21, has an option made for precisely this reason.

[Noel]

I found some documentation on page 19 for GSX Setting Page, but there is no mention of cargo loading component of 'boarding' time.  Of note, w/ the QW757 I can have 210 passengers, and load time will by very fast, like the minimum I think of 15-30 seconds, and cargo will load in just another maybe 2-3 minutes.   I can have 250 pax w/ the T7, passengers load in 15-30 seconds, then cargo will take a full 10+ minutes to complete.  Why the massive difference?

The sliders as I say make no mention of cargo piece, so I don't know what you're looking at but I couldn't find it.

Thanks

[virtuali]

Of note, w/ the QW757 I can have 210 passengers, and load time will by very fast, like the minimum I think of 15-30 seconds, and cargo will load in just another maybe 2-3 minutes.   I can have 250 pax w/ the T7, passengers load in 15-30 seconds, then cargo will take a full 10+ minutes to complete.  Why the massive difference?

There's no such thing as a separate "cargo loading" process, that is linked in any way to the variable timing settings you see in the GSX Timings settings page. The GSX Timings setting page controls ONLY the simulated process of passenger boarding, because that's an arbitrary delay, that is related to the estimated number of passengers on board.

The time it takes to load Cargo, instead, is tied to the animation of loading/unloading containers, which has a fixed timing, but a variable number of containers, which again is related to the estimated number of passengers on board.

So, the minimum number of cargo carts will be 1, and the maximum will be 5. I think a fully loaded 747 will have two loaders with 5 carts each (but they go more or less in parallel ), and a fully loaded 757 should probably have 3 carts, so it's not possible you would see such a massive difference, like 30 seconds against 10 minutes, because even a 5 carts train will not take that much to be filled, the animation simply doesn't last that long.

I tried it now, with the default 747, and unloading cargo with tw 5-carts loaders too less than 2 minutes. I cannot see how you could see cargo loading lasting for 10 minutes, since there will never be more than 5 carts in the cargo train, and the animation plays always at the same speed.

[Noel]

It's a bug or a red herring then because absolutely it takes that long or very close to it, dramatically different from the QW757.

[virtuali]

It's a bug or a red herring then because absolutely it takes that long or very close to it, dramatically different from the QW757.

As I've said, I timed it, and with the maximum number of carts, which is 5 (regardless how big is the airplane or it's loaded), it takes less than 2 minutes.

Are you SURE you are referring to the *cargo* loading process, which is only affected by the animation and not, instead, the overall boarding/deboarding process, which includes PASSENGERS, and that's is affected by the settings you set in the Timings page, so perhaps you had a setting too high, which resulted in 10 minutes ?

Of course, to be sure, I also tried the PMDG 777 now, and the same 5 carts loaders appeared, and whole deboarding took 2:10 minutes, passengers+cargo. Of course, the time for the cargo animation couldn't be any different than any other airplane with the same number of carts, since the animation always plays at the same speed.

[Noel]

OK, must be a red herring for another interaction then.   I'm wondering if maybe there is an interaction w/ FSCaptain which clearly is 'GSX-aware'.  I will try something different and see.  It is WAY longer than 2:10 and I will measure it and let you know.

Thanks I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it!!

I will try a test flight w/o FSCaptain and see how it goes and let you know.

[Noel]

It's a bug or a red herring then because absolutely it takes that long or very close to it, dramatically different from the QW757.

As I've said, I timed it, and with the maximum number of carts, which is 5 (regardless how big is the airplane or it's loaded), it takes less than 2 minutes.

Well, I'm afraid that time doesn't apply here.  I just now timed ONE of the 5 carts, total time to elevate the cart, roll it in, and make it disappear inside one of the cargo bays of the T7:  right in there at close to 1 min, 42 seconds.  That is just one cart.  8 min, 30 seconds or so for all 5.  I said 10 min so that was a little long, but doesn't take into account moving the positioning the carts.  So something's amiss...  I don't know what to make of it.   The cargo doors were open, etc.  Quite frankly if you just watch the carts being loaded they seem to be moving the correct speed, i.e. 1 min 42 seconds or so seems to flow about right.  Every cart takes this long!

[virtuali]

Well, I'm afraid that time doesn't apply here.

Ok, I was using time acceleration to test. I obviously checked the FSX time, not a real clock, because I assumed the internal FSX clock should go together with the time acceleration, but it seems it doesn't, so the issue in this case was that FSX doesn't update its own clock correctly at the same rate of the time acceleration setting, so that altered my results.

Tried it now at 1x, and it takes about 8 minutes, which looks correct.

Quite frankly if you just watch the carts being loaded they seem to be moving the correct speed, i.e. 1 min 42 seconds or so seems to flow about right.  Every cart takes this long!

So what's the problem then ? You said yourself the animation looks to be running correct speed so, if it takes 1:42 minutes to load 1 cart, it's just normal it would take 8 minutes to load 5.

If we altered the animation to run at an (unrealistic) higher frame rate, it would look as if it was running in time acceleration so, you can just use that.

[Noel]

Well, I thought of this too finally--you're right.  This being said, I was struck by how long it takes compared to my other two planes, QW757 & CS Super MD80.   What exactly determines how much cargo is loaded in say PMDG T7 versus QW757?  But I never really thought about why, and that is because I wasn't looking outside a whole lot.  Using FSCaptain keeps me focused on the clock and checklists, etc, and so I really never considered that cargo loads would vary so much in those two planes, when the passenger load was fairly similar.   So yes, it's correct to say, 'where's there a problem?'   I think what might be worth consideration, if at all possible, to allow a control in the settings dialogue, just like for time/passenger, min seconds, etc, and have one something like:  '% of full cargo load', or something along those lines.  If I manually change the cargo load as the plane is loaded will that reduce the GSX time involved?  If so that's a great solution.

[virtuali]

What exactly determines how much cargo is loaded in say PMDG T7 versus QW757?

As explained on the manual, the number of carts is calculated from the estimated number of passengers on board, which equals to the sum of all load stations of the airplane, divided by 220 lbs, which is an industry standard estimate of the average weight of a passenger + luggage.

So, the only thing that affects the cargo loading time (the animated part), it's just the number of carts, which goes from 1 to 5.

If I manually change the cargo load as the plane is loaded will that reduce the GSX time involved?  If so that's a great solution.

Yes, of course, but it will also affect the weight and balance in flight.

As I've said, if you hard pressed for time, there's no need for cumbersome new program options: just use Time Acceleration, that's the main point for that feature to exists: allowing time-consuming operations to be completed faster, without reducing the simulation value.

[Noel]

What exactly determines how much cargo is loaded in say PMDG T7 versus QW757?

As I've said, if you hard pressed for time, there's no need for cumbersome new program options: just use Time Acceleration, that's the main point for that feature to exists: allowing time-consuming operations to be completed faster, without reducing the simulation value.

Which Time Acceleration?   In PMDG T7, or P3D's simulation rate, or what are you referring to please?

[virtuali]

Which Time Acceleration?   In PMDG T7, or P3D's simulation rate, or what are you referring to please?

The default one in the sim. GSX animations respond to that and correctly take it into account when simulating anything.