"Door" offset not functioning correctly

[FPVSteve]

The Door offset 0x3367 does not appear to be working correctly (or perhaps it is from the point of view of FSUIPC).

It does talk to the simulator - in the 787 and A320 the "DOOR" warning flashes up on the display when sending "1" to any of the bits, however it immediately returns to the previous value and the door closes.

I'm wondering if perhaps the simulator is simply resetting the value because the doors are in-fact still closed, whereas in other simulators the bits simply get accepted regardless of what is happening to the aircraft model.

Edited August 20, 2020 by FPVSteve

[John Dowson]

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

The Door offset 0x3367 does not appear to be working correctly (or perhaps it is from the point of view of FSUIPC).

Thanks for reporting this. Looks like the reading is ok via a simvar, but the setting via an event isn't working. I'll check it to see if its an issue with the event  or an FSUIPC7 issue and get back to you. This may take a while though.

John

[FPVSteve]

Thank you, it's not a huge issue but it would be good to know either way.

[FPVSteve]

Further to this update I have had a report that the offset does respond correctly if a jetway is connected - apparently this switches the bit of the connected door to "1" or "open". If this is indeed the case, then the aircraft must have some logic built into it to determine whether it's in a valid state to have a door open - either a jetway connected or perhaps some airstairs (if that's possible within MSFS).

Edited August 21, 2020 by FPVSteve

[FPVSteve]

Just to confirm the above I've done some testing this morning and it does appear that writing to the offset gets overridden by the flight simulator.

What this means is you cannot open or close a door at will any more - the doors appear to be controlled by the simulator and will only be "open" if you are connected to a jetway. Similarly, once connected to the jetway you cannot manually set a Door offset to "closed (0)" - it will be overridden to "open (1)" by the simulator.

To successfully open the doors, you must be at a gate (not a ramp) then summon the jetway from the "ATC > Ground Services" menu. You must also disconnect the jetway in the same way.  

From the point of view of FSUIPC in both cases reading the offset value works perfectly. "Write" works but gets overridden back to the value that MSFS deems to be correct for the current ground "status" of the aircraft.

Offset bit manipulation by MSFS:

A320 (Single Jetway Gate):

0 - Jetway turns to 0 or 1 depending on if connected
1 - No effect
2 - No effect
3 - Catering Truck turns this to 0 or 1 depending on if present
4 - No effect
5 - Baggage truck turns this to 0 or 1 depending on if present
6 - No effect
7 - No effect

There may be other manipulations available for larger aircraft such as the 747 and 787 at larger gates with multiple jetways but I'm sure you get the idea.

[Pete Dowson]

9 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

Offset bit manipulation by MSFS:

A320 (Single Jetway Gate):

0 - Jetway turns to 0 or 1 depending on if connected
1 - No effect
2 - No effect
3 - Catering Truck turns this to 0 or 1 depending on if present
4 - No effect
5 - Baggage truck turns this to 0 or 1 depending on if present
6 - No effect
7 - No effect

There may be other manipulations available for larger aircraft such as the 747 and 787 at larger gates with multiple jetways but I'm sure you get the idea.

Interesting that bit 5 comes into play. So Exit 6 (counting from 1 as the UI does) is the Cargo hold, and 4 is rear (?) catering door (starboard side). Nice to know for add-on aircraft that there may be up to 8 controlled doors. FSX and P3D were limited to 4 -- addons providing more had to invent their own controls for those (as for instance the 738 from ProSim).

Of course, I'm assuming the limit would be 8, but that's just our offset size (BYTE). There may be more possible.

Pete

 

[jmig]

The new Carenado C-182T allows you to open its doors. Carenado must have found a way around the sim controlling the doors.

[Pete Dowson]

11 minutes ago, jmig said:

The new Carenado C-182T allows you to open its doors

Using the regular controls. does it have more than 4 door operations too?

12 minutes ago, jmig said:

Carenado must have found a way around the sim controlling the doors

There are probably a lot of ways, but using the regular controls?

Pete

 

[jmig]

Pete, I do not own the C-182. I watched a review YouTube video on the airplane. At the end, the reviewer clicked on the door handles to open each of the two doors. Clicking on the door handles of the default aircraft does nothing, as I am sure you well know.

[Pete Dowson]

34 minutes ago, jmig said:

At the end, the reviewer clicked on the door handles to open each of the two doors.

Ah, so it might just be a local function in the graphics,  same as those aircraft letting you open the windows or operate the air vents. For some of these things there's nothing built into the sim in any case.

Pete

 

[FPVSteve]

Yes, they probably open the doors on the model but they do not update the simulator door status. I could be wrong but if they did, FSUIPC would pick up on it like it does with a jetway being connected then the sim opening a door. FSUIPC is working as it used to, but the simulator is overriding the values.