Vertical Speed Toggle

[wmcmahon]

Hey guys, I'm working on creating my own autopilot hardware using an Arduino and Mobiflight.

I've got most of the buttons mapped, however it seems Vertical Speed toggle isn't working.

When I open the FSUIPC console and push the VS button on the G1000 I see no log messages, where-as if I do it with other buttons I see the eventID.

Any help?  Am I missing something? 

[roa]

28 minutes ago, wmcmahon said:

Hey guys, I'm working on creating my own autopilot hardware using an Arduino and Mobiflight.

I've got most of the buttons mapped, however it seems Vertical Speed toggle isn't working.

When I open the FSUIPC console and push the VS button on the G1000 I see no log messages, where-as if I do it with other buttons I see the eventID.

Any help?  Am I missing something? 

I believe you don't see it, because it is a LVar that is not implemented in Simconnect. 

[wmcmahon]

Sorry excuse my ignorance, but would that be something missing from FSUIPC or something missing from Asobo's implementation of SimConnect? 

Also, functionally behind the scenes, why would the VS button in the G1000 be any different than say the HDG button?  

[roa]

I have asked myself the same question. 

VS button plus many other buttons are only implemented in the Javascript code for the A1000 and not Simconnect. 

 

In order to send a command to trigger the VS button function in the Javascript you need another interface than Simconnect. 

[wmcmahon]

Great..... I have a theory, that since the VS button doesn't technically exist on the typical radio stack Autopilots they implemented it differently for the G1000.  Same idea with the VNAV button which also seems to be an LVar.

I'm not sure where to go from here now with my autopilot build.  

Anyone have any suggestions/thoughts as to how I can complete this?  I know MS2020 is still super early in terms of community development, I'm just curious if there is anything available today or something being worked on? 

[Pete Dowson]

2 hours ago, wmcmahon said:

it seems Vertical Speed toggle isn't working.

What is a "vertical speed toggle"? Do you mean the Autopilot VS Hold option? There is a control you can assign to for that: "AUTOPILOT VERTICAL HOLD".

2 hours ago, wmcmahon said:

When I open the FSUIPC console and push the VS button on the G1000 I see no log messages

Ah, I don't know about the G1000 (even in FSX/P3d). I only know the A/P controls on MCPs.

If you are building an autopilot why are you basing it on something like the G1000?

Pete

 

[wmcmahon]

Hey Pete!  Thanks for the response, also thanks for making such a great product. 

Yes, I mean the Autopilot VS Hold option.  

I've tried the "AUTOPILOT VERTICAL HOLD" assignment and it doesn't seem to do anything.

Quote

If you are building an autopilot why are you basing it on something like the G1000?

I fly a lot of GA, and in FS2020 since it's so VFR focused a lot of the GA aircraft use the G1000.  Also, I'm using a 3D printed G1000 bezel to save some money and there is a really nice opensource one on thingaverse. 

I've even tried to bind a key to Autopilot Vertical Hold in FS2020 and bind that same key in mobiflight but it doesn't seem to be working as expected... like for some reason the keys bound in mobiflight don't work in FS2020 -- but that's not really an FSUIPC7 issue.

I understand that what I'm asking is very much outside the realm of FSUIPC7, I'm just curious if anyone else has had this issue yet or if they have figured out some sort of workaround. I've also posted in the Mobiflight Forums. 

Thanks again for your time. 

[Pete Dowson]

6 hours ago, wmcmahon said:

I've tried the "AUTOPILOT VERTICAL HOLD" assignment and it doesn't seem to do anything.

The only indication you would get is the lighting of the VS hold indicator on the autopilot. I don't think it can affect the G1000 -- that does its own thing and there seems to be no controls listed for it in the MSFS SDK. The VS to be held is the one in the VS digital display. I don't know how these are dealt with in the aircraft you are using.

7 hours ago, wmcmahon said:

I fly a lot of GA, and in FS2020 since it's so VFR focused a lot of the GA aircraft use the G1000.

I don't know the GA. On my GA sim (a Piper Arrow III dedicated piece of hardware) there's no "VS" setting or VS hold labelled as such.  But the autopilot has an "Alt" mode, and "up" and "down" buttons with which you can control climbs and descents, so it's an effective VS setting facility.

It would perhaps be useful to know if the VS hold control works on the Airliner autopilots in MSFS. If so, but not on the GA ones with a G1000, then I can only think the facility is implemented locally to the G1000. In FSX or P3D we'd deal with that using L:Vars (local panel variables), as roa  said, or mouse macros. I'm afraid neither of those methods is available for MSFS. We need to wait for more SDK development and, probably, a method of having a module running inside MSFS with which we can communicate.

I'm afraid it is very early days for add-on applications for MSFS and what you want to do may not be possible yet.

Pete

 

 

[roa]

I don't believe that any of the Simconnect  G1000 Events that can  seen via  FSUIPC's binding function are working. In addition the GA in MSFS use the newer version G1000 and some of these buttons, like VS, is only in live in the A1000 JAVASCRIPTS. 

[John Dowson]

It has been reported to Asobo that many events for the G1000 are missing, and many of those currently documented (as 'Responded') don't actually work (also for the GNS430/GNS530). Asobo are aware of the issue and have said that this is work in progress.

John

[roa]

1 hour ago, John Dowson said:

It has been reported to Asobo that many events for the G1000 are missing, and many of those currently documented (as 'Responded') don't actually work (also for the GNS430/GNS530). Asobo are aware of the issue and have said that this is work in progress.

John

Thanks for letting us know. It is hard to know what is known issues and what is not when you are not in the MSFS developer beta team.

[wmcmahon]

Thanks everyone for such great insight!  

It's good to know Asobo has acknowledge this.  For now I think I'll try to engage VS HOLD via the key command in Mobiflight, and work it from that angle.