FSUIPC4 Feature Request

[Joshua Robertson]

Hello Pete,

Would it be possible to create an option in the Autosave section of FSUIPC that would allow/disallow autosaving the flights while in Mission mode?

The reason I ask this is because when the autosave function is turned on, it saves flights regardless of whether or not the user is in free flight mode or mission mode and each time before I start a mission, I find myself disabling the autosave function before entering mission mode. I think it'd be nice to actually have an option in FSUIPC to detect mission mode and optionally disable autosave. Let me know what you think, Pete.

Regards,

Joshua Robertson (creator of FS Real Time)

3D Softworks Design Studios

http://www.3dsoftworks.net

[Pete Dowson]

Would it be possible to create an option in the Autosave section of FSUIPC that would allow/disallow autosaving the flights while in Mission mode?

How do I know when it is in mission mode? I think this may first need to be a request to Microsoft, to provide information about FS modes?

I can get a notification "Mission Completed" and also another "Custom Mission Action Executed". But I think the latter only refers to missions being controlled by that particular SimConnect client, and maybe the former does too. There's currently no "User has entered mission mode" notification.

Oddly, I did get a positive note from one user (Doug Horton no less) who was actually very pleased that the AutoSave not only worked in mission mode, but actually allowed the saved states to appear in the saved missions list. Here is what he said:

"Autosave .flt files are visible from the Missions UI if you check the

"Show save missions" checkbox. Nice to have, particularly as I try to

work through missions, in view of my two persistent crashing scenarios.

Of course, they'll disappear from being listed under applicable mission

after being overwritten by newer Autosave files that don't pertain to

mission."

He regards this as a very useful bonus and suggested I mention it in the documentation as such.

The reason I ask this is because when the autosave function is turned on, it saves flights regardless of whether or not the user is in free flight mode or mission mode and each time before I start a mission, I find myself disabling the autosave function before entering mission mode.

Curious that you find AutoSaves an actual disadvantage in missions. Why is that? I have two opposite views. I can understand the positive one, but not yours. How do the autosaves detract from flying missions? Care to explain further, please?

Regards

Pete

[Joshua Robertson]

Curious that you find AutoSaves an actual disadvantage in missions. Why is that? I have two opposite views. I can understand the positive one, but not yours. How do the autosaves detract from flying missions? Care to explain further, please?

The reason I turn off the autosave feature in mission mode is because it creates a problem after finishing a mission and attempting to return to free flight mode. The problem I have is that after I finish flying the mission and attempt to return to free flight mode, I find myself back in mission mode where I'm unable to change the aircraft and/or it's location, or the weather. I'm also unable to create a flight plan or enter slew mode. Whats more is that when I press ESC to return to the opening screen, I find myself back at the mission summery page of the mission I previously flew. The only way I found to correct this problem is to delete all the autosaved flights which is why I started disabling the autosave feature when entering mission mode.

PS: I've contacted Microsoft about this issue of FSX being unable to return to free flight mode after saving a flight and making it the default flight in mission mode. This is (at the time of this forum posting) still an open issue with Microsoft.

Regards,

Joshua Robertson (creator of FS Real Time)

3D Softworks Design Studios

http://www.3dsoftworks.net

[Pete Dowson]

The reason I turn off the autosave feature in mission mode is because it creates a problem after finishing a mission and attempting to return to free flight mode. The problem I have is that after I finish flying the mission and attempt to return to free flight mode, I find myself back in mission mode where I'm unable to change the aircraft and/or it's location, or the weather. I'm also unable to create a flight plan or enter slew mode. Whats more is that when I press ESC to return to the opening screen, I find myself back at the mission summery page of the mission I previously flew. The only way I found to correct this problem is to delete all the autosaved flights which is why I started disabling the autosave feature when entering mission mode.

Strange. So the same would happen to anyone, not an AutoSave user, who just happened to save a flight during a mission? I would have thought that a common thing to want to do, especially in longer ones (or are they all short?).

I'm surprised that Doug didn't mention this -- he's writing a review I think and mentioning the autosave as a useful feature for missions to. I'll ask him how he worked around the problem.

Anyway, I'd be glad to provide an option to automatically turn off the feature during missions if we can find a way to detect when missions are started and ended. Do you know of any way to do that?

Regards

Pete

[Frank.O]

Hi,

Strange. So the same would happen to anyone, not an AutoSave user, who just happened to save a flight during a mission?

I may be wrong but there is still a difference.

FSX being unable to return to free flight mode after saving a flight and making it the default flight in mission mode

May be making it the default flight triggers this behaviour.

Regards,

Frank

[Pete Dowson]

FSX being unable to return to free flight mode after saving a flight and making it the default flight in mission mode

May be making it the default flight triggers this behaviour.

Ahactually I didn't read that as part of Joshua's problem with AutoSave. I assumed that was referring to a parallel but distinct problem. Naturally if the "Also saved" flight option in AutoSave is used to create a new default flight every so many seconds then, you are right, it is the same problem.

Loading a flight with mission mode status obviiously enters mission mode (as would be required), so having one saved as default would logically generate the problem Joshua sees.

Doug replied to me when I asked him about this, saying it hadn't been a problem for him -- so I guess that is the difference. Joshua, is that so -- are you using the "also saved" flight for your default flight?

If this is the problem then, yes, it would be nice to be able to detect mission mode (I don't know how at present) and suppress just the Also Save action, but still retaining the normal timed saves.

Thanks & Regards

Pete

[Joshua Robertson]

In previous versions of Flight Simulator, there use to be a feature where when you exited the flight simulator, the flight state when you exited was saved to a file called 'Previous Flight.flt'. The way I had it set up was that the Previous Flight was the default flight so that where ever I left the flight when I exited the simulator is where the flight would resume when I started the simulator again. I loved that little feature.

In FSX, this feature no longer exists with just the software released by Microsoft alone. That is why with the autosave feature in FSUIPC4, I tried to mimic that behavior so that where ever I left the flight when I exited is where the flight would resume when I restart the simulator. Since I can't have an actual 'Previous Flight', the closest I can get is by using the AutoSave feature within FSUIPC4 where it saves the flight every 60 seconds (I would choose a smaller interval however there is a small performance tradeoff). I then make that flight the default flight so that at least I can be close to the last place I left the simulator.

This presents a problem however when the autosave feature of FSUIPC4 is doing its thing when flying a mission. The Previous Flight.flt file is now a mission flight file and any attempt to create a new flight results in the simulator returning to mission mode where certain aspects of the simulator such as aircraft, location, weather, slew, and as such are unchangeable. The only way now is to delete the autosaved files and start the simulator with its default flight of the Air Trike over Friday Harbour.

Regards,

Joshua Robertson (creator of FS Real Time)

3D Softworks Design Studios

http://www.3dsoftworks.net

[Pete Dowson]

In previous versions of Flight Simulator, there use to be a feature where when you exited the flight simulator, the flight state when you exited was saved to a file called 'Previous Flight.flt'. The way I had it set up was that the Previous Flight was the default flight so that where ever I left the flight when I exited the simulator is where the flight would resume when I started the simulator again. I loved that little feature.

Me too. I tried to implement it automatically in FSUIPC4. But I can find no reliable way of getting a notification of closure early enough to actually successfully ask SimConnect to save a flight. I even looked to hack into the same routines in FSX as I did in previous versions to call the Save Flight actions directly, but things have changed that much I didn't find them. I've put in a request for a more advanced notification from SimConnect.

This presents a problem however when the autosave feature of FSUIPC4 is doing its thing when flying a mission.

Yes, and this is why it wasn't a problem for Doug when he was testingthe normal timed saves of AutoSave aren't the problem, it is the default flight loading in mission mode. I can't see a logical solution to that unless either FSX comes up with a prompt on such a load ("do you really want mission mode?"), or there's a way of detecting mission mode from SimConnect.

Thanks for the clarification. I'll tell Doug too as i think he'll be writing this up in one of his articles.

Regards

Pete