Animated Ground Service

This new setup enables the animated ground service (AGS) for the PMDG 747-400 ( Pax version only)!
When at the gate just open the cargo bay's doors, press [SHIFT] + [E] and then quickly [3]:

The luggage vehicles will move to the front cargo bay door at starboard, stay a while at loading position and move back to their starting position. This is a loop procedure which will last until you press [SHIFT] + [E] and then quickly [3] again. The luggage vehicle operation cannot be terminated immediatly. Pressing the key combination for the second time will interrupt the loop so once the vehicles are back to their starting position they will not drive back to the aircraft's loading position.

Remark:

There is no way to change the loading position as only one cargo door can be defined at a time (FSX limitation).

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Please make sure to backup your original aircraft.cfg file before installing this modification! The author disclaims any responsibility for loss of data or malfunctions!

Installation:

To enable the FSX basic AGS simply look for the aircraft.cfg file following your installation path:

"...\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\SimObjects\Airplanes\PMDG747-400\aircraft.cfg"

Open aircraft.cfg with a text editor (i.e. Notepad); admin rights are required using Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Then look for the [exits] section and replace existing section by code section shown below and safe the file - that's it, enjoy some new scenery action at the gate.

[exits]
number_of_exits = 3
exit.0 = 0.4, -31.1147, -9.5702, 1.11891, 0 //openclose rate percent per second, longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum (feet), type (0=Main 1=Cargo 2=Emergency)
exit.1 = 0.4, -62.2539, -9.6109, 1.1891, 0 //openclose rate percent per second, longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum (feet), type (0=Main 1=Cargo 2=Emergency)
exit.2 = 0.4, -43.8000, 7.1000, -8.400, 1 //openclose rate percent per second, longitudinal, lateral, vertical positions from datum (feet), type (0=Main 1=Cargo 2=Emergency)

Trouble Shooting:

To make the luggage vehicles available at FSX please ensure that the airport details are set at least to high and airport ground traffic is set higher than none at the graphics setup. Not all gates or parking lots provide luggage vehicles. If you cannot see any luggage vehicles from the very beginning, they will not pop up pressing [SHIFT] + [E] and then quickly [3]. Sometimes FSX has positioned luggage vehicles as STATIC scenery which will never move to a cargo door at all. Please try another gate or parking lot providing luggage vehicles if AGS does not work on your PMDG B744.

Please make sure that the luggage vehicles are available exactly at your gate since they won't move from another gate to yours. The default luggage vehicles are at your gate if your PMDG B744 is facing the front side of the vehicles when you are at parking position. You should be lined up according the center line of the parking position.

However: It shouldn't matter if you're slightly beside the line with the nose gear. If your gate is providing default FSX jetways and they are docking correctly to your L1 door, you are parking correctly.

If you’re still unable to activate the animated ground service, please check your key assignment of FSX itself since the feature is not provided by the PMDG B744 but directly by Microsoft FSX. To check the key assignment of FSX please try the following:

- Exit your simulation session to the main window of FSX.
- Choose the default Airbus A321 which came with FSX.
- Choose a gate or parking lot providing luggage vehicles.
- Press [SHIFT] + [E] to open the L1 door. If this is working properly
- please press [SHIFT] + [E] and then quickly [2] or [3] and check if the luggage vehicles move to the open cargo door.

If this does not work on your PC (although it is a standard feature) your FSX key assignment is not set properly. Please reassign the key mapping for opening the doors to [shift] + [E] and recheck the animated ground service feature again using the FSX default Airbus A321. If you now see the luggage vehicles moving to the cargo door please exit your simulation session to the FSX main window and retry with your PMDG B744. Pressing the key combination [shift] + [E] should make FSX display a green bar on top of the window saying "Opening door" for starting AGS or "Closing door" for terminating AGS.

If the FSX default Airbus A321 or Boeing B738 show proper AGS but your PMDG B744 does not, please check your key mapping for the PMDG B744 following your FSX installation path:

"...\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\PMDG\PMDG_747-400_Kbd.ini"

The PMDG_747-400_Kbd.ini file contains the PMDG B744 key mapping and must not contain any key combinations using [SHIFT] + [E]. If so please choose another combination not using it. Additionally make sure to not have addressed dublicate key allocations (i.e. for opening several doors by pressing one single key or key combination - use "All Cargo=your combination" instead of it).

You may also check other add-on software like FS2Crew for PMDG B744 for key mapping conflicts.