Newest KB Articles

PMDG Operations Center 2.0 End of Life

Wed, 27 May 2026 17:46:45 GMT

As of 26MAY26, the PMDG Operations Center 2.0 has been removed from service.

As announced in June of 2025, the PMDG OC2.0 was removed from service on 26MAY26 and is no longer operational. Customers in possession of legacy product installers for FSX or P3D may still see their PMDG product attempt to install the OC2 application, but the application will not run or be useful in any way due to this retirement from service.

Customers who wish to install liveries may do so manually, but not automated tools exist to accomplish this task. We regret any inconvenience this may cause, but after more than a decade of service OC2 was no longer supportable in the operational environment.

Stuttering when mouse passes over clickspots / using a clickspot

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 08:18:18 GMT

If you are observing stuttering in your sim when passing the mouse over a clickspot or when operating a button/knob in the VC check if the below chnage in the mouse settings eliminates the issue.

This has been reported that helps especially MSI laptop users.

You need to activate the black mouse theme and pointer trails in your Mouse properties

Launch the Settings app (Win+I keyboard shortcut).
Click the “Devices” category.
Click the “Mouse” page in the left menu of the Settings category.
Click the Additional Mouse Options
Select the Pointers and Pointers Options and set them as below

Using the Electronic Checklist (ECL) controller: It isn't stuck!

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 19:40:41 GMT

Here is an area in the PMDG 747-8 that is going to trip some users up, and so we wanted to put together a special, single topic item here for you to read. Our hope is that this will prevent confusion when it comes to the Electronic Check List (ECL) system in the 747-8.

HOW TO KNOW YOU SHOULD COME BACK AND RE-READ THIS LATER: If you find yourself in a scenario where you think the ECL has “frozen” or “is stuck” or “isn’t responding to mouse clicks” come back here and read this again.

When the 777 first debuted back in the mid 90s, it was innovative in that it had a touch pad installed for each pilot in order to control the ECL. The touch pad functioned much like the touch pad on a laptop computer, allowing the crew to slew a cursor around on the ECL screen, with push buttons to make selections by clicking.

When we designed the PMDG 777, we emulated this functionality by creating a custom process that allowed you to use your mouse to move the cursor around over the top of the ECL display and click on desired items. This very effectively emulated the function of the onboard touch-pad from the pilot’s perspective, and also worked very much like a standard Windows interface, so it was really quite handy!

The 747-8 is DIFFERENT:

Okay so this should be an obvious fact, but it still needs to be pointed out: The PMDG 777 and the PMDG 747-8 are different from each other.

Yes, they are both stunningly beautiful airplanes to look at, and yes they both are detailed in grand fashion within our simulations, but the issue we are focused on here is that the 747-8 airplane also has an ECL but you will interact with it a manner that is completely different than what you became accustomed to in the 777.

It is important to understand how this will change your interaction with the PMDG 747-8 ECL system.

If you look to the side of the throttles, you will see that the analog trim gauge from the 747-400 has been replaced with a selector knob. This knob rotates, and also has a push-to-select function that allows a crew member to push vertically downward on the knob to make selections.

If you look at the ECL screen, and rotate the knob, you will notice that the magenta selection box moves progressively through each of the clickable items displayed on the screen. If you rotate the knob by left/right clicking on it, or by rolling your mouse-wheel, the magenta selection box moves in the desired direction. For purpose of this explanation, it is helpful to think of knob rotation as performing the same function as the tab key on your keyboard when moving a selection between options within the Windows operating system.

Once you have the desired item highlighted, simply push down on the knob to click.

The ECL will respond appropriately, and move to the next logical place on your checklist, or to the menu you have selected, as the case may be.

You will find that this function is quite nicely compatible with your mouse scroll wheel, with the scroll wheel serving as the rotating knob, and then clicking to simulate pushing down on the selector knob. (NOTE: Your mouse must be over the ECL screen for this to operate, but it is important to note that the location of your click is the magenta highlighted area and NOT the location of your mouse cursor! <<=== THIS IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER.)

To describe this another way: You can't simply move your mouse to a different item on the display and click. This will not work! The "click" will be applied to whatever is highlighted in magenta, not to the location of your mouse.

NOW: We had a vigorous debate internally within PMDG as to whether we should allow users to select between the correct 747-8 selector method and the older 777 method. This debate was eventually settled along the lines of “more options are a good thing for users” and we have included both functions.

If you find that the new roller knob functionality confuses you, or doesn’t work for you because you use your mouse wheel for something else more important, you can easily activate the old 777 style of ECL manipulation by going into the OPTIONS menu within the FMS, go to SIMULATION and on Page 5, change the selection from WHEEL to CURSOR. You can play with this in flight by switching back and forth to see which one you like more, it won’t hurt anything.

GOTCHAS:

We mentioned in the beginning that you are inevitably going to hit a moment in your flying in which you think, “hey, the ECL is frozen and not responding.” When this happens, stop and take a look at your ECL screen closely. Chances are, the checklist has reached a “sensed switch” that requires input from the crew in the FMS to match a handle/selector position, or simply requires a knob/switch to be in a specific position before the item can be checked off the list.

When this happens, you simply need to use the roller knob to move the magenta box to whatever other desired item you need to select, because the location of your click is the magenta highlighted area and NOT the location of your mouse cursor. (Remember we said this was important?)

Now, if you fall into this trap, don’t panic. Just use the roller knob or your mouse wheel and you will find everything is working just great. (And don’t feel badly because 1/3 of the PMDG team stumbled into this late in beta testing and thought it was broken, too... See? Even we have bad days.)

Remember: When in doubt, roll the knob to move the magenta selection box.

CTD when entering Flight Plan

Fri, 16 Feb 2018 02:27:03 GMT

Several users have reported a CTD error that occurs when loading a Flight plan into the FMC either by Import or Manually. If the IRS system is not fully aligned when the Flight Plan is entered, the FMC will cause a CTD to occur. You can correct this by aligning the IRS system prior to starting the flight plan entry. There is an open item to correct this in a future update.

.rte Flightplan file structure explained

Mon, 29 Jan 2018 09:03:33 GMT

The below article describes the format of the .rte which is used from the FMC to load a flight plan.

Sample Flight plan as it is saved from a Flight Plan Utility

Generated by PFPX 19 Jun 2017 08:30 UTC <---- Comment/Remark line

11 <---- Number of waypoint entries

KIND <---- Waypoint name (1)

1 <---- Waypoint type (2)

DIRECT <---- Route to waypoint (airway ID or DIRECT)

1 N 39.7173 W 86.2946 796 <---- Position Entry (3)

----- <---- Runway string entry (if assigned) -- AIRPORTS ONLY! --

1 <---- Departure ? (1:TRUE,0:FALSE) -- AIRPORTS ONLY! --

0 <---- Runway position -- AIRPORTS ONLY! --

1 <---- Restriction phase (4)

796 <---- Restriction Altitude -- IF RESTRICTED --

- <---- Restriction Altitude Type (5) -- IF RESTRICTED --

-1000000 <---- Restriction Altitude (second) if above/below

-1000000 <---- Restriction Speed (6) -- IF RESTRICTED –

IIU <---- Waypoint name (1)

5 <---- Waypoint type (2)

J89 <---- Route to waypoint (airway ID or DIRECT)

1 N 38.1035 W 85.5774 0 <---- Position Entry (3)

0 <---- Restriction phase (4)

General Remarks

The flight plan MUST contain valid departure and arrival airports. If runways are defined then they MUST belong to the airport as read from the database
Empty lines in the file format must be present
SID/STAR/APP type waypoints are not to be used.

Specific Fields

Waypoint name : MUST exist in the database
Waypoint type there are two values 1 (Airport type) and 5 (Ordinary waypoint type)
Position entries take the following form: 1 N 40.6398 W 73.7789 13 where the first number 1 means a valid position followed by latitude, longitude followed by the position altitude. For ordinary waypoints altitude is naturally not required and thus a value of zero is commonly entered. Airports only should have an altitude value.
Restriction phase can be 0 (none), 1 (CLB), 2 (CRZ) and 3 (DES). It is important to set a non zero value for airports so that the remainder of restriction information can be read.
Restriction altitude type can be "-" or A (at or above) or B (at or below) or W (at or above this altitude at or below the next entry). "-" for airports.
Restriction speed (not required for flight planning)

As a general convention a value of -1000000 in any numerical entry signifies NO DATA (e.g. not restricted) and a value of '-' or '----' (any number of dashes) in a string entry means also NO DATA (e.g. runway id)

Captain's PFD Pop-Up Modified for CTD Protection

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 18:11:57 GMT

On 27JUL17, we updated the 737, 747 and 777 product lines with a small protection against an unusual failure mode that is present only in Prepar3D v3.1 and later through v4.x.

WHAT IT IS:

We have added a protection that requires users to "Opt In" to activating the captains PFD as a Pop-Up display. You can access this in the Options menu in order to turn the protection OFF/ON as suits your needs. Most users will be able to activate this feature without trouble, but we are requiring users to opt-in in order to bring attention to an easily preventable
CTD problem some users may not be aware can be avoided.

BACKGROUND YOU NEED TO KNOW:

When Lockheed Martin released Prepar3D v3.1, something changed deep in the internals of Prepar3D that induces a CTD for **some** users under a very specific set of circumstances. The CTD would occur 3-8hrs (actual time, not sim-time) into a flight if the user made any use of the Captain's PFD as a "pop up" display by clicking on the left PFD. We have been seeking Lockheed Martin's attention to this issue for more than a year, but the issue is so difficult to reproduce, neither Lockheed Martin nor PMDG have succeeded in finding an in-house reproduction case that is consistent enough to allow debugging.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT SETTING TO CHOOSE?:

We defaulted this setting to disallow use of the Captain's PFD as a pop-up display, even though 99% of users did not experience the CTD. We selected it to OFF in order to force awareness of the issue by making users manually select the setting to ON. When you select ON, you will get a small warning window to bring to your attention the fact that if you have a CTD sometime in the 3-9hrs range, you may want to consider selecting this item back OFF.

We hope that this will help users avoid a problem we have been unable to convince Lockheed Martin to fix...

PMDG Pricing and License Policies

Tue, 30 May 2017 21:54:14 GMT

The following PMDG policy items are dry and boring to read, but very important:

PMDG Product Availability by Platform:

Customers currently have three platform choices for most PMDG products (with some variation for MacOS/Windows):

Microsoft Flight Simulator X
Lockheed Martin Prepar3D
Laminar Research X-Plane

Customers who purchase a PMDG product for one platform do not receive rights to use that product on any other platform. We do not offer any discounts or upgrade or transition pricing for customers who wish to move from one platform to another. PMDG is not responsible for a customer deciding to move to a new platform under any circumstance, nor is PMDG responsible for a customer’s changing parameters for suitability of use of any platform since these platforms are not published by, or controlled by PMDG.

PMDG Product Availability for Multiple Platform Versions:

Within a platform, we do offer customers the flexibility to use their purchases with different versions of each simulation platform:

Microsoft Flight Simulator X and Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam-Edition (released by Dovetail Games)
Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v3 and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D v4

PMDG Refund and Exchange Policy:

Given the nature of electronically delivered software, PMDG maintains a long standing no-refund policy. Once a customer has completed purchase of a product and been issued a license key, the purchase is no longer refundable.

PMDG does not allow the resale of licenses purchased. This is detailed in the End User License Agreement, which is governed under the laws of the United States of America.

PMDG License Activation Policy:

Customers rights are enforced through the use of licensing that must be activated via internet in order for the product to operate.
Customers who run out of license rights simply need to contact our support team in order to be provided with additional rights on an as-needed basis.
PMDG retains the right to revoke or restrict license rights if a customers is found to be abusing license rights or violating the End User License Agreement.

Look, the bottom line is that the lawyers want all of this to sound very official, dry and imposing, so let us sum it up this way: We want you to enjoy your product and we are here to support you. Please reach out if you have problems or concerns not addressed here. We monitor our support system 7 days and we are always here to lend a hand if you are having trouble with your product.

Thank you again for being a PMDG customer - we very much appreciate your interest in our work.

"Motor" sound in Cold and Dark start up

Wed, 29 Jun 2016 01:01:57 GMT

There have been several users who have reported that when starting a PMDG aircraft in P3D using the Cold and Dark start up that a sounds can be heard even with no ground equipment present. A user identified the possible sound of the source as the "fuel_pump.wav" file in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v3\Sound folder. If you encounter this issue please try disabling this file and see if the problem is corrected for you.

How to Redownload Your Products - Find your Activation ID

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 22:11:37 GMT

Products can be redownloaded at any time by following the procedure below:

Go to https://pmdg.com/login.php
Enter your email and password. If this is the first time visiting the new store you will be needing to reset your password following the instructions.
Click on Orders
Find the appropriate order number and click on it (Please note that the order numbers on the new store have been changed. If your product was bough at the old store a new order ID has been assigned.)
On the following page, there will be a download product button along side with the Activation ID for your order if there was one assigned.
Click the Download Product and on the new window the opens press Sent Authentication Code
Do not close the window and enter the Authentication Code when received at your email
The download should start.

Please note if you are missing the Download Product button or your download does not start after enter the authentication code you need to check your browser settings. You should allow pop ups at your browser from www.pmdg.com.

If you are using Kaspersky Antivirus and you do not see the Download Product Button please switch off the processing of data traffic in Kaspersky properties. This should solve the issue

Stackhash Errors

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 05:12:57 GMT

It is common when users experience unusual problems, they come to PMDG for solutions. It is also common that we wind up finding the problem exists outside of PMDG software. We believe this to be the case with a currently reported rash of stachkash errors that some users are experiencing. Please check for the following:

If you are running beta software that runs any time your sim is running, such as a weather program, please revert back to the latest stable, non-beta version. (Side note: if this fixes the issue, it would be kind to pass that information on to the developer of that beta software!)
If you are running any virtual airline programs that track your progress in the simulator, please check with your virtual airline to see the program's compatibility with the operating system you are using. In some cases, this can be fixed by running it in compatibility mode.