FSUIPC6 Macro Making Stuck

[adrem]

2 hours ago, Ross McDonagh said:

LINDA stuff just seemed way over my head

I've never used LINDA myself, but I would guess that it's much easier to use than you imagine. When used with one of their modules for addon aircraft, such as the one for FSLabs that John has linked above, it is to custom cockpit controls what FSUIPC is to default sim controls. You just select a joystick button in a drop-down menu and the cockpit control in another dropdown and you've created an assignment. You don't have to worry about macros, Lvars, rotor brake codes and other nonsense - the aircraft modules take care of that under the hood.

[Ross McDonagh]

18 minutes ago, adrem said:

I've never used LINDA myself, but I would guess that it's much easier to use than you imagine. When used with one of their modules for addon aircraft, such as the one for FSLabs that John has linked above, it is to custom cockpit controls what FSUIPC is to default sim controls. You just select a joystick button in a drop-down menu and the cockpit control in another dropdown and you've created an assignment. You don't have to worry about macros, Lvars, rotor brake codes and other nonsense - the aircraft modules take care of that under the hood.

Adrem, thank you so much for the comforting words!! 

[Ross McDonagh]

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

No, your ini contains the assignments to the macro file. The macro file itself is the name you gave It - it's in your installation folder, called A320 Test.MCRO.

John, attached are all the Macros I can see

Please let me know if you need more.  I would probably delete and restart the macro making particularly since I have to completely reinstall the FSLabs A320.  Just want to get a fresh start on this.  I've been waiting 11 years to fly this bird and finally have a system capable enough to do it, but it seems not without some headaches and heartaches first.

 

A320 Test.MCRO.bakA320 Test.MCROTFDI 717.MCRO.bakTFDI 717.MCRODefault Test.MCRO

[John Dowson]

11 hours ago, Ross McDonagh said:

I’m also wondering why the macros should be a last resort?

Mouse macros emulate a mouse operation on the UI, which then alters the model somehow, either by sending a control/event or changing the value of a variable. Its more efficient to just send the control/event or modify the variable directly, rather than via the mouse operation. Also, different models of the same plane may have different rectangle ids for the same button/switch, whereas the control/event or variables would be the same. So, controls/events are more general, and can apply to many aircraft, and variables can be aircraft specific, but generally work for that series of aircraft, whereas mouse macros tend to be specific to that model.

11 hours ago, Ross McDonagh said:

I don’t believe many of the addons have controls to send for specific button pushes in the flight deck unless I’m missing them-and if there are I’d love to get a list of said controls for the FSlabs and TFDI aircraft (for now)  

You need to check the documentation for that aircraft. Some add-on aircraft re-purpose unused controls, whereas others use 'custom' controlnumbers (e.g. PMDG). The 'Rotor brake' control you mentioned looks like it has been re-purposed to control various actions depending upon the parameter.

To get a list of the lvars available for your aircraft, you can assign a button or keypress to the List Local Panel Vars control, which will list the available lvars (and their current values) for you. There is also a lua script (included in the provided examples) that does a similar thing.

John 

[John Dowson]

The UI rectangle (switch/button) given the problem is RX400001c6, to which you have two macros assigned:
    31=LDG LT Toggle=RX400001c6,3
    32=LDG LT TOGGLE UP=RX400001c6,1

These macros are assigned to your Alpha Flight Controls buttons 22 and 23:
    30=R1,22,CM1:32,0     -{Macro A320 Test: LDG LT TOGGLE UP}-
    31=R1,23,CM1:31,0     -{Macro A320 Test: LDG LT Toggle}-
These are also assigned to 'repeat' (R) - surly you don't want a toggle button to be repeated, no?

Anyway, I suspect that one of those buttons may be continually firing, but I need to see a log file with button logging activated (as previously requested) to confirm that. You could try removing those two assignments as well, to confirm that they are the cause of your problem.  Remove one at a time, starting with the last one first.

John

[Ross McDonagh]

12 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

Mouse macros emulate a mouse operation on the UI, which then alters the model somehow, either by sending a control/event or changing the value of a variable. Its more efficient to just send the control/event or modify the variable directly, rather than via the mouse operation. Also, different models of the same plane may have different rectangle ids for the same button/switch, whereas the control/event or variables would be the same. So, controls/events are more general, and can apply to many aircraft, and variables can be aircraft specific, but generally work for that series of aircraft, whereas mouse macros tend to be specific to that model.

You need to check the documentation for that aircraft. Some add-on aircraft re-purpose unused controls, whereas others use 'custom' controlnumbers (e.g. PMDG). The 'Rotor brake' control you mentioned looks like it has been re-purposed to control various actions depending upon the parameter.

To get a list of the lvars available for your aircraft, you can assign a button or keypress to the List Local Panel Vars control, which will list the available lvars (and their current values) for you. There is also a lua script (included in the provided examples) that does a similar thing.

John 

Thanks John, I’ll give it a whirl.   Of all things after my reinstall and deletion of the macros, I got a GPU hang climbing out of FlyTampa KBOS.  I shut the computer down in disgust, then got mad at it, turned it back on, went to (of all places) FlyTampa Las Vegas (with pretty much everything turned up to 100%) and did a SID/STAR/visual flying around at night with no problems but some reduced frame rates.  

So I take it once I list the LVAR’s I should be able to see what controls are what inside FSUIPC and go on from there?   I’ve now got the manuals in my phone (well most of them) so I’ll be going thru those today while I’m at work.  I have all afternoon today to hopefully sort issues  and then I’m really hoping to fly all day tomorrow.  

[Ross McDonagh]

2 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

Anyway, I suspect that one of those buttons may be continually firing, but I need to see a log file with button logging activated (as previously requested) to confirm that. You could try removing those two assignments as well, to confirm that they are the cause of your problem.  Remove one at a time, starting with the last one first.

I did indeed find and remove that.  So the landing light (and taxi, strobe lights) is a 3 way switch on the A320.  The landing light is retract/extend/on while the taxi light is Off/Taxi/Takeoff and the strobe is Off/Auto/On.

Obviously the honeycomb alpha doesn’t have a 3 way switch.  I was meant to setup button 21 for “down” and 22 for “up” but put the repeat on there so it would cycle thru both settings because on the honeycomb when the switch is up, the button remains pressed.  

How does one unassign a macro after it’s been made and how would I get you the log file?  

[John Dowson]

Check if the aircraft has some documentation or an SDK. Lvars and custom (or repurposed) controls should be described there.

1 minute ago, Ross McDonagh said:

How does one unassign a macro after it’s been made and how would I get you the log file?  

You can use the 'Clear' button in the assignments panel, or just delete the line from the ini file before you start the FS. You can just attach the log file to your post (either drag and drop or by using the 'choose files' link just below where you enter your comments.

[John Dowson]

27 minutes ago, Ross McDonagh said:

I was meant to setup button 21 for “down” and 22 for “up” but put the repeat on there so it would cycle thru both settings because on the honeycomb when the switch is up, the button remains pressed.  

The problem is that switches (and "sticky" buttons) will send a button down event in one direction, and then a button up event when switched back. With repeat on, you will continually be getting the down event while the button/switch is on, and as this is assigned to a mouse macro, it will continually be sending a mouse click, which is what is preventing you creating further mouse macros.

If you change those buttons to the 'off' position (rather than deleting the entries), this should allow you to continue with your mouse macro creation.

[Ross McDonagh]

1 hour ago, John Dowson said:

You can just attach the log file to your post (either drag and drop or by using the 'choose files' link just below where you enter your comments.

Will do.  With the great advice you’ve given I’m going to remove the 3 way switches and try to find out a way to turn the switch off and on. 

I can’t thank you enough for your patience with me.  I recall Pete doing the same with a friend of mine when we first discovered FSUIPC way back when and my friend telling me how great it was and he put up a YT video which I came back to to make macros all these years later.  

 

My plan is going to be to clear out all the macros and try to get the LVARs setup.  I found a list of LVAR and rotorbrake codes on the FSL forums but I didn’t see many of the specific controls I’m looking to program (mainly for the FCU/Autopilot) so I’m not sure if FSL uses an FS command or not.  

[John Dowson]

33 minutes ago, Ross McDonagh said:

My plan is going to be to clear out all the macros and try to get the LVARs setup.  I found a list of LVAR and rotorbrake codes on the FSL forums but I didn’t see many of the specific controls I’m looking to program (mainly for the FCU/Autopilot) so I’m not sure if FSL uses an FS command or not.  

Ok. No need for your log (at the moment!), now that I understand what is causing your issue.

It's a good idea to try LVARS and the custom controls first. You should maybe ask on the FSLabs forums about controls for the FCU/Autopilot, as I expect there would be some form of control/lvars if the standard FS controls don't work. You can always use mouse macros for control of the ones that aren't supported.

[Ross McDonagh]

2 hours ago, John Dowson said:

Ok. No need for your log (at the moment!), now that I understand what is causing your issue.

It's a good idea to try LVARS and the custom controls first. You should maybe ask on the FSLabs forums about controls for the FCU/Autopilot, as I expect there would be some form of control/lvars if the standard FS controls don't work. You can always use mouse macros for control of the ones that aren't supported.

Ok John, I’ll hold off on the log.  
 

In the meantime, I’ll ask about control sets over in the forums.  The head developer replied to my GPU hang issue so I’ve got some updating to do 

 

thanks so much for all your help!