Author Topic: Marshaller too high  (Read 3186 times)

glc100o

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Marshaller too high
« on: December 05, 2022, 06:59:47 pm »
I fly pretty much exclusively the PMDG 737. At every airport the Marshaller is on a ladder and as I get close I cannot see her or her signals,or see the distance readout.There must be some way to resolve this without asking me to customize the Marshaller position for every gate for every airport I fly into, which is way too much work. Gate guidance is very important part of the experience.

Greg

virtuali

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2022, 07:06:05 pm »
Nobody ever reported the Marshaller to be always on a ladder, everywhere.

That seems more like, if you are using a GSX custom profile, whoever made it, intentionally set the Marshaller position in a place where he wouldn't be inside a wall, but at the same time set a Stop position too close to him, or didn't set a Stop position at all.

Normally, without any customization, the Marshaller is placed based on the airplane eyepoint, and a bit closer if the gate has a jetway, but seeing the ladder is not so common.

glc100o

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #2 on: December 05, 2022, 08:41:59 pm »
 I have not done any customizations. Saw it at KLAX default, KPHX default and others. I will keep an eye out and keep a list of where I see the Marshaller on a ladder. Maybe bad luck but I have never seen at eye level but I have only had a few flights.

Greg

rsm2000e

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2022, 09:42:44 pm »
In my view, the Marshaller NEVER should be on a ladder for the narrow-body jets like 737's.  There is NO reason for it, and it is a HUGE immersion-killer.  Flying into a small airport like KSAN (San Diego, Ca) it is VERY off-putting to have the marshaller on top of a huge ladder, this NEVER happens in the real world!  I could understand 'maybe' for a 'jumbo' widebody, but again, in 73 years of flying in USA, I never ever saw a marshaller on a ladder.  PLEASE umberto, why can't you include a checkbox in the configuration "NO LADDERS FOR MARSHALLER" or some such thing.  ACCOMODATE your user base, instead of making US have to go around and modify airports!  Same thing with the silly REAR STAIRS.  AGAIN, in the USA, no such thing at airports with Jetways, never ever seen stairs, they would not run people onto the tarmac when they are boarding via an elevated jetway that is above TARMAC LEVEL.

Having problems with pushback when using PMDG 737.  About when they should ask which way to push back, GSX Pro just freezes up and nothing happens.  I have to kill Coautl in the taskbar and use the PMDG pushback.

GSX Pro is an appealing product at times... but it still is very much betaware in my opinion.  As it is at present, I cannot reccomend it to my sim friends.  And the updater is a mess.  No one knows 'when it needs to update' or 'what got updated'.  A total mystery... and not in a good way.

glc100o

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2022, 04:21:46 am »
Ok, I checked the issue out and went to KLAX default, KSNA Default, KPDX third party, KBWI Default with 737-800 and all had the Marshaller on a ladder. Have also seen at PHOG third party. So it seems that for the 737-800 I will always get Marshaller on a ladder or stairs. Always too high up to see guidance and digital readouts from the cockpit especially during the critical phase of final endpoint.

Greg

glc100o

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #5 on: December 06, 2022, 04:26:14 am »
All the testing was done at uncustomized airports and at gates with a jetway.

Greg

AirBorne

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2022, 07:15:24 am »
Nobody ever reported the Marshaller to be always on a ladder, everywhere.

That seems more like, if you are using a GSX custom profile, whoever made it, intentionally set the Marshaller position in a place where he wouldn't be inside a wall, but at the same time set a Stop position too close to him, or didn't set a Stop position at all.

Normally, without any customization, the Marshaller is placed based on the airplane eyepoint, and a bit closer if the gate has a jetway, but seeing the ladder is not so common.

Well, I'm afraid to say that I also almost always see the marshaller in the ladder when using the B-737. Airports without any customisation. Maybe GSX should put them farther away by default or create a shorter ladder for these shorter planes, because the one being used is quite useless.

AirBorne

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2022, 07:17:30 am »
In my view, the Marshaller NEVER should be on a ladder for the narrow-body jets like 737's.  There is NO reason for it, and it is a HUGE immersion-killer.  Flying into a small airport like KSAN (San Diego, Ca) it is VERY off-putting to have the marshaller on top of a huge ladder, this NEVER happens in the real world!  I could understand 'maybe' for a 'jumbo' widebody, but again, in 73 years of flying in USA, I never ever saw a marshaller on a ladder.  PLEASE umberto, why can't you include a checkbox in the configuration "NO LADDERS FOR MARSHALLER" or some such thing.  ACCOMODATE your user base, instead of making US have to go around and modify airports!  Same thing with the silly REAR STAIRS.  AGAIN, in the USA, no such thing at airports with Jetways, never ever seen stairs, they would not run people onto the tarmac when they are boarding via an elevated jetway that is above TARMAC LEVEL.

Having problems with pushback when using PMDG 737.  About when they should ask which way to push back, GSX Pro just freezes up and nothing happens.  I have to kill Coautl in the taskbar and use the PMDG pushback.

GSX Pro is an appealing product at times... but it still is very much betaware in my opinion.  As it is at present, I cannot reccomend it to my sim friends.  And the updater is a mess.  No one knows 'when it needs to update' or 'what got updated'.  A total mystery... and not in a good way.

I can't agree more.

virtuali

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2022, 09:22:41 am »
In my view, the Marshaller NEVER should be on a ladder for the narrow-body jets like 737's.

And as I've said, it usually doesn't, because the Marshaller position is calculated from the actual eyepoint position, meaning a 737 shouldn't cause having a calculated distance too high, which would have to be eventually reduced to place it on a ladder. We'll have a look at the calculation, it should be enough to change the threshold to decide when to use a ladder, without any need to add extra confusing options.

Quote
Having problems with pushback when using PMDG 737.  About when they should ask which way to push back, GSX Pro just freezes up and nothing happens.  I have to kill Coautl in the taskbar and use the PMDG pushback.

A common reason for this to be happening, is not understanding you should NEVER close the GSX Toolbar icon with the mouse, for as long you are using GSX, it has been like this since a long while, when the Hotkey has been added, and Page 74 of the manual explains you are supposed to open the GSX Toolbar icon with the mouse only the first time you start GSX in a session, and *never* close it from the Toolbar, always close/open with the Hotkey, unless you are done with GSX, so you can close the Toolbar icon.

Not following this workflow would result GSX not being able to pop-up a menu or display a message waiting for some action, which will mislead you assuming GSX is "stuck", but it was just unable to communicate a message or a menu, because you disabled it by closing the Toolbar menu.

The manual clearly explains this is a structural limitation in the sim, derived by the limited interaction between the HTML/JS system that creates menus, and the rest of the Simconnect, which makes impossible to call up a menu directly, since the JS code that runs the menu will get killed by the sim the moment you close it.

Quote
And the updater is a mess.  No one knows 'when it needs to update' or 'what got updated'.

The "RELEASE NOTES" button in the FSDT Installer is telling you exactly that: when there's an update and what got updated so no, everything you asked is already there. And, we already confirmed, multiple times, that an updated NOTIFICATION system, will come, that's the only thing that is really missing from the update.

glc100o

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2022, 10:26:23 pm »
Taking another look at the calculation sounds great Umberto. Hopefully that will resolve the Marshaller too high issue.

Greg

rsm2000e

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #10 on: December 07, 2022, 12:18:23 am »
Taking another look at the calculation sounds great Umberto. Hopefully that will resolve the Marshaller too high issue.

Greg

AMEN!  Hoping this happens real soon, please and thank you Umberto!  ::)

Can you PLEASE consider a tickbox in configuration "NO REAR AIRSTAIRS"??  I can't imagine that is impossibly difficult or confusing to program.  End-users will love that option!

Good product, just needs some rough edges removed and sales should really accellerate.  Ditching the Marshaller atop the ladder for the 737 altogether would be wonderful for USA pilots... marshallers standing on the ground is what we are used to in IRL.

virtuali

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #11 on: December 07, 2022, 12:35:51 am »
Can you PLEASE consider a tickbox in configuration "NO REAR AIRSTAIRS"??  I can't imagine that is impossibly difficult or confusing to program.  End-users will love that option!

Since this  option is clearly airport-related ( Rear airstairs are very common in many parts of the world to be used by the Cabing cleaning crew ), a global configuration option is not the correct place to have it and, instead, the proper place is where it is right now, in the Airport configuration page.

No, you don't have to configure all parking spots, it's as easy as:

- Select "Customize Airport positions"

- Click the "Airport" node, which represent the whole airport. This will select all parking spots at once.

- Click the "Filter parkings with no jetways". This will leave just the ones with jetways selected

- Click "Disable staircases"

With 3 clicks, you disabled the staircases in all parking spots you usually want to: all gates with a jetway.

rsm2000e

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #12 on: December 07, 2022, 06:41:07 pm »
Politely:  Your suggestion for the rear stairs once again evades my issue- I DO NOT WANT to have to 'adjust' for no rear stairs at EVERY USA AIRPORT I fly the 737 into or out of!  Why do you insist on disregarding American pilots?  Because the rear stairs are 'common in Europe', you Americans can just edit each and every airport you go into or out of?  That is NOT user-friendly!  Giving all pilots a simple setup checkbox to turn the rear airstairs "on or off" makes the greatest amount of sense, and with a nod to your European buddies, you can make rear airstairs "ON" by default and let us third-world pilots over in USA able to check a simple tickbox to get rid of them ALL, Worldwide!!!!!!!  Instead of asking us to go into the setup on a one by one airport basis!  PLEASE consider doing this, I know many users will thank you.

virtuali

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2022, 11:03:33 am »
Politely:  Your suggestion for the rear stairs once again evades my issue- I DO NOT WANT to have to 'adjust' for no rear stairs at EVERY USA AIRPORT I fly the 737 into or out of! 

Not doing ANY adjustment to the airport customization, will likely cause much bigger issues that the completely harmless appearance of extra rear stairs sui, things that affect the simulation like:

- wrong pushback in restricted places where the normal Left/Right strategy won't work

- vehicles clashing into each other because their starting position conflicts with scenery ground objects

- invisible Marshallers because they have been placed too far into a terminal building

- wrong parking radius set in the scenery, resulting in the default vehicle placement too close to the airplane

Each one of them can happen, if you don't customize, and they are way more problematic than seeing an extra stair on the rear door.

That is to say, you either DO your own customizations, and in this case disabling the rear stairs on parking with jetways would take a really minimal amount of extra time compared to the other way more important things you need to set, or you DO NOT want to do your own customizations, preferring to rely on pre-made customization files made by GSX profile creators which, of course, knowing that rear stairs are not used in a particular airport, they would already set the option in their profiles.

Now, I wrote this trying to make you aware there will be far bigger issues you'll find, if you don't want to do any customization or don't want even to check if an airport has already a custom profile made by the community, the rear stairs is really irrelevant, compared to the others.

That doesn't mean we won't consider adding the option you asked, is not really difficult, but the way you asked it, seemed to indicate you are expecting to use GSX and ignoring ANY form of customization, which is not always the case.

glc100o

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Re: Marshaller too high
« Reply #14 on: December 09, 2022, 06:05:01 pm »
Two things,
I resolved the issue of rear stairs showing up in P3D and again in MSFS by simply customizing  the aircraft and disabling the left rear stairs. Takes a few seconds, ensures that no left rear stairs show up at any airport, and is much easier than customizing each airport individually. Can be easily undone as well.

I downloaded the December 7 update twice, last time this morning,  which release notes suggest the Marshaller too high issue should be resolved for PMDG 737. Tried at a couple of gates at KSNA 5, and 8 I think and the Marshaller is still up on stairs way above the aircraft fuselage, so issue remains.Umberto could you maybe check that airport to see if the fix is working? I spawn on the runway near to the gate with engines running and then pull up the menu to select a gate and taxi to it in a few seconds.

Greg