Zibo Installation,

Calibration & Troubleshooting Guide for

V3.31+

© Nico du Bruyn (Skymatix)

Index Prerequisites for a proper installation of the Zibo 738 files - P2

New Installation or Upgrade of existing installation- - P2 Calibrating X Plane 11 and the Zibo 738 properly - P4

Getting to know the Zibo (738) Mod better - P9 Troubleshooting the Zibo mod - P11 Two known issues & solutions - P12

Other tips and trick you might find useful - P13

1. Prerequisites for a proper installation of the Zibo 738 files 1.1) X Plane 11.26 or newer 1.2) Did you download the B737-800X_3_31_full.zip file and have it ready to use?

You may download it form this official link until further notice. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-tdl3VvPeOOYm12Wm80V04wdDQ *** If the download limit is exceeded the you must use your mouse and right click on the file and select MAKE A COPY. this will copy the file to your own Google drive where you can then download it PLEASE DO NOT select copy to my Google drive, it will NOT work!

1.3) Did you download the latest “fix file”, example B738X_3_31s.zip , where “s” is the last

alphabetical letter available in the download folder? PLEASE NOTE that the “fix file” DOES NOT contain previous fixes UNLESS SPECIFIED! It is YOUR responsibility to check the release notes in the readme.txt file supplied with the download or on this page! https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/138974-b737-800x-zibo-mod-info-insta

llation-download-links/

2. New Installation or Upgrade of existing installation 2.1) New Installation

a) Extract the B737-800X_3_31_full.zip in to your XP11\aircraft folder. This will create a B737-800x folder, in the Aircraft folder, for you.

b) Now unzip/extract the “fix file” into the B737-800x folder and overwrite the older files when prompted.

2.2) Upgrade Installation - Trust me this is the best way to avoid errors. (If you like to pile fixes on top of fixes you can do that too, until you get an issue then do this)

2.2.1 Make a backup of the following files; (in the Zibo folder) a) b738_prefs.txt (only backup if you are using the default XP11 camera system with

predefined views and you will cry if you lose it, otherwise skip this one) b) b738_vrconfig.txt (only backup this file if you use VR and have modified it

otherwise skip this file) c) Clist.txt (only backup this file if you use XChecklist and are using a newer or

modified version) d) X-Camera_b738.csv (Only backup this file if you have it, this is your xCamera

presets and you will cry if you lose it) e) The liveries folder - Each livery contains a cfg file that contains a portion of the

setting that you saved via the Zibo Tablet. If you do not save this you will have to redo the affected settings.

2.3.2) Delete the contents of this folder AFTER you are sure that you have your

backup in a safe place!

2.3.3) Unzip the B737-800X_3_31_full.zip into the B737-800x folder to rebuild your

aircraft 2.3.4) Now unzip/extract the “fix file” into the B737-800x folder and overwrite the older

files when prompted. PLEASE NOTE that if you need more than one “fix file” according to the release notes then you have to download & install them in alphabetical order, one after another!

2.3.5) Now put your backup files, from 2.2.1 above, back in place, overwriting the files

that the new installation has put in place

Now in order to truly enjoy the Zibo mod as it was designed to be, you HAVE TO do the calibration of your X PLane 11 and the ZIbo mod properly and the next section of

the guide is dedicated to just that.

3. Calibrating X Plane 11 and the Zibo 738 properly In recent models of the Zibo Mod, the team has implemented new code to replace the Laminar research code that controls the Autopilot Servo Motors and vertical stability of the aircraft in VNAV mode. This guide will help you setup and configure your system to make use of this new code 3.1) Calibrating XP Plane 11 properly

a) Your first step will be to open your XP11 Settings and go to your controller settings

b) Your first step will be to calibrate your controller in XP11

*** I do not use the Saitek throttle quadrant and that is why those lines are ignored *** REMEMBER to do your rudder pedals as well :)

c) Your next step will be to configure the Control Sensitivity and to REMOVE any Stability Augmentation, completely, as shown… Pull all sliders far left to disable it. * The Control Response is YOUR Personal choice. Sliders moved more left = lighter aircraft Sliders moved more right = heavier aircraft (my choice - 70 tons cannot behave like a Pitts Special)

The reason for moving all the Stability Augmentation sliders to the left is to allow the Zibo code to do the work for us instead of the Laminar Research code. This is the single most important setting that will affect the Zibo mod * Always remember that the sliders on the left is linked to your controller while the sliders on the right is linked to the aircraft ACF file and you do not want to influence the ZIbo acf file!

Once this part is completed You can move on to the Tablet in the Zibo cockpit

3.2) Calibrating the Zibo properly, in the built-in tablet

a) Click on the Settings button on the tablet

b) Click on the Calibration button

c) You will now be presented with a screen where you can calibrate the Zibo mod’s hardware calibration.

Please pay careful attention to the following tasks that you will have to perform: c.i) Move your controllers and then observe the numbers change while moving them.

c.ii) Now re-center them and check if your numbers return to a stable 0 (ZERO)

c.iii) As you can see my pedals are not returning to a stable 0 (ZERO). It seems to flutter

c.iv) I now set my tablet value to cancel the noise effect and stop the flutter

c.v) In my case I did not have to do anything on the pitch and roll but the pedals was an issue so I ended up using 4 to stop the fluttering/stuttering on the values in the tablet

~~~ d) All that is left for you to do now is to save your settings on page 2 of the main menu

This takes care of the installation and calibration of the Zibo Mod

- as it should be

~~~

The next section is dedicated to the guys having issues not covered before and it revolves around troubleshooting the Zibo Mod

4. Getting to know the Zibo (738) Mod better The Zibo mod is the brainchild of Lubos Zibek. In essence, he decided to take the default B738 in XP11 and make it a study level aircraft. When we look at the Zibo mod, it is a mod / plugin that runs on top of the Laminar code and enhances it way beyond any other B738 in X Plane history. This is also why you will not see or have access to the datarefs if the aircraft is not fully loaded and why you can also not strip the mod off and then complain about it’s flight model as you are not looking at the Zibo mod at that time then any longer. In order for the Zibo mod to function as designed we therefore need

1) A proper working X Plane v11.26 or newer. 2) A properly installed & calibrated Zibo Mod as per this document 3) There are various other mods that will enhance the Zibo mod and your general flight

experience, that can be added but more on that later. The default installation path is XP11 folder\aircraft\B737-800x (My XP resided on my E Drive and my aircraft folder looks like this)

And this is what my B737-800x folder looks like inside

(FYI: the x-camera file is not included by default and is from the x-camera add-on, the rest of the files are standard default ones) And to re-cap, the following files are really important;

a) b738_prefs.txt (only backup if you are using the default XP11 camera system with predefined views and you will cry if you lose it, otherwise skip this one)

b) b738_vrconfig.txt (only backup this file if you use VR and have modified it otherwise skip this file)

c) Clist.txt (only backup this file if you use XChecklist and are using a newer or modified version)

d) X-Camera_b738.csv (Only backup this file if you have it, this is your xCamera presets and you will cry if you lose it)

e) The liveries folder - Each livery contains a cfg file that contains a portion of the setting that you saved via the Zibo Tablet. If you do not save this you will have to redo the affected settings.

The remainder of the Zibo settings reside in the XP11 root folder and continues on the next page………………..

After starting your first flight in the Zibo mod the following files are created in your XP11 root folder;

a) The b738x.cfg contains the shared Zibo tablet settings b) The b738x_hw.cfg contains the shared hardware settings from the Zibo tablet c) The b738x_staus.dat contains the Zibo mods GPS location coordinates

5. Troubleshooting the Zibo mod There are a few easy steps to remember, starting with this document and testing the validity of your installation; 5.1 Correct XP Version 11.16 or better (ALSO, although it will work in the BETA XP11

versions it is not officially supported) 5.2 Did you use the correct base file and subsequent correct fix(es) 5.3 Is your calibration in XP11 and on the Zibo Tablet done as required If all of these questions are answered correctly and the problem persists then the problem is not with the Zibo mod and you will have to troubleshoot your system. If you want to make double sure then remove the whole Zibo folder as well as the files in the XP11 root folder as described above and reinstall from the beginning. Always

start fresh and clean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One extra tip that I have found to work very well is to do a clean install often. It is all good and well and add lots of fixes, one on top of another but good housekeeping fixes a lot of stranges issues!

6. Two known issues & solutions Two other known issues that is easy to fix if you know how revolves around the mouse pointer and the N1 thrust produced after selecting TO/GA. 6.1) Mouse Pointer - this pointer sometimes misbehaves and then we are unable to use it in

the Zibo as we should.

This is NOT a Zibo problem but a XP11 problem.

The problem is that the x-plane.prf file goes corrupt

This is what the corruption usually looks like _hdg_hold_mag[0] -nan(ind) _hdg_hold_mag[1] -nan(ind)

You have 3 options to fix it. 1) You can open the default 747 and click a few buttons then go back to the Zibo. This technique sometimes fails, be warned!

2) You can edit the X-Plane.prf file and simply remove the problem This is what the lines MUST look like _hdg_hold_mag[0] 0.000000 _hdg_hold_mag[1] 0.000000

3) You can just delete the x-plane.prf file and then let XP11 rebuild it. This is useful for a lot of other issues and my go to fix when XP behaves badly !

6.2) N1 does not produce the expected thrust after selecting TO/GA

This is NOT a Zibo problem but a XPUIPC problem.

What happens is that when you load the Zibo Mod while you have XPUIPC on your system, it interferes with the loading of the Zibo mod. You have 2 options to fix it. 1) You can move the aircraft to another parking position before starting the preflight

configuration of the aircraft 2) You can reload it via the developer menu in XP11

Both of these options will reload the Zibo mod properly and the N1 with TO/GA will work as expected. *** PLEASE DO NOT mistake pressing the N1 button for TO/GA. It is not the same

Thing! The MIC button is the TO/GA button!

7. Other tips and trick you might find useful The Zibo Tablet is full of settings. I do not use all of them and I encourage you to go through the tablet and experiment. The worst that can happen it that you might need to reinstall the Zibo if you mess it up, so don’t be shy. 7.1) When you select LED lights you lose two of the landing light switches and you can also

make the LED landing lights pulse. Apparently good for chasing birds away and reducing bird strike amongst other things.

7.2) The most popular setting to get nose wheel steering working is the YAW option

7.3) The same calibration options that you saw earlier in this document is available for your

throttle as well. This is extremely useful if you have an old throttle with noise on the line

If you suffer from Auto Throttle disconnects you might want to try the A/T Engaged Lock Throttle option on the same page. 7.4) Yoke Auto Centre used in combination with the realism settings option of Yoke Movement OFF should help you if you have Autopilot disconnect issues

7.5) You can sync the Captain & F/O QNH & Minimums on the PFD’s by setting it in the Aircraft Configuration page 2.