FSLabs and FSUIPC not interacting properly when sending information to third-party applications

[GillyTheKid]

Hello,

I am part of BA Virtual which uses it's own third-party flight tracking application called Merlin. Normally, once STD pressure is selected, the altitude tracking will change to flight level, rather than specific values, but for whatever reason, the FSLabs and FSUIPC aren't interacting properly and FSUIPC can't sense the change of barometric pressure and send that to Merlin. I have contacted the developer of Merlin and he has had a look at some flightlogs. He says that Merlin checks the Kollsman value sent from FSUIPC and crosschecks it with the current altitude; if there is a value of 1013, the altitude displayed in the flight tracking will be FL rather than local altitude. When flying the FSLabs, the Kollsman value doesn't seem to change from that of the one that is displayed on sim load up. Is there any reason for this value not changing and being able to send it out to Merlin and is there any way that I would be able to fix it so it can do that? I have the latest version of FSUIPC, and have tried reinstalling FSLabs in different locations, but nothing seems to work. I can't remember if I installed FSUIPC as administrator, so would reinstalling it as administrator help?

Thanks,

Will

[Pete Dowson]

15 hours ago, GillyTheKid said:

Normally, once STD pressure is selected, the altitude tracking will change to flight level, rather than specific values

Yes, as normal.

15 hours ago, GillyTheKid said:

The FSLabs and FSUIPC aren't interacting properly and FSUIPC can't sense the change of barometric pressure and send that to Merlin.

The STD pressure, 1013, is set by the aircraft panel, not the other way round. The Kollsman value is held as hPa x 16 in offset 0330 (an unsigned 16-bit word).

15 hours ago, GillyTheKid said:

He says that Merlin checks the Kollsman value sent from FSUIPC and crosschecks it with the current altitude; if there is a value of 1013, the altitude displayed in the flight tracking will be FL rather than local altitude

That sounds rather cock-eyed. The aircraft panel should set 1013 to the offset when STD is pressed. And if it is using Flight Levels if the pressure read is 1013, it will be wrong when that is the true value but you are not above the transition altitude.

It is always up to the aircraft programming to set STD mode. It is never automatic in the Sim, as it doesn't know the local TA.

15 hours ago, GillyTheKid said:

When flying the FSLabs, the Kollsman value doesn't seem to change from that of the one that is displayed on sim load up. Is there any reason for this value not changing

It is only changed by the cockpit panel. You adjust it using a dial for the true current pressure which you get from ATIS or from ATC, or by pressing STD to go to Flight Levels. Neither FSUIPC nor the Sim changes it without the correct input.

There's also a separately set Kollsman value for the G1000 if that is installed. That's at offset 0332. The behaviour is the same.

Pete

 

[GillyTheKid]

4 hours ago, Pete Dowson said:

It is only changed by the cockpit panel. You adjust it using a dial for the true current pressure which you get from ATIS or from ATC, or by pressing STD to go to Flight Levels. Neither FSUIPC nor the Sim changes it without the correct input.

Yes sorry, when the value is STD. However, I do change to barometric pressure to STD above the TA, but it does not seem to effect the level displayed on Merlin. It still reads it as the pressure that I had previously in below the TA; the flight level shown is a reference to the QNH I had previously, rather than that shown on the PFD on the aircraft, with STD selected. 

In the picture, a specific value is clearly seen of 35288ft, when on the sim I was cruising at FL350 on STD pressure. It seems something isn't working correctly between the two as the incorrect value is being sent over, unless it is an issue with the FSLabs specifically. I managed to work out some sort of work around by assigning a key directly to Q1013 in FSUIPC itself, which then changes the value sent over to 1013, but as it's not controlled by the aircraft itself, I don't particularly consider it a longer term solution. I flew earlier on with this method and the correct Flight Level was displayed this time. 

Not sure if that description makes sense.

Thanks,

Will

Edited August 23, 2021 by GillyTheKid

[Pete Dowson]

2 hours ago, GillyTheKid said:

I do change to barometric pressure to STD above the TA, but it does not seem to effect the level displayed on Merlin. It still reads it as the pressure that I had previously in below the TA; the flight level shown is a reference to the QNH I had previously, rather than that shown on the PFD on the aircraft, with STD selected. 

You need to Monitor offset 0330 (FSUIPC Logging Tab, right-hand side, offset 0330 type U16. For 1013 that will read 1013x16 = 16208, or if it sets it more accurately (1013.25) then 16212.  check the option below to write it to the log.

If your STD button is not writing this value then that will explain your problem.

2 hours ago, GillyTheKid said:

I managed to work out some sort of work around by assigning a key directly to Q1013 in FSUIPC itself

Sorry, you need to explain that. "Q1013" isn't a control recognised by FSUIPC.

Pete

 

 

[GillyTheKid]

1 hour ago, Pete Dowson said:

You need to Monitor offset 0330 (FSUIPC Logging Tab, right-hand side, offset 0330 type U16. For 1013 that will read 1013x16 = 16208, or if it sets it more accurately (1013.25) then 16212.  check the option below to write it to the log.

If your STD button is not writing this value then that will explain your problem.

It is indeed not writing to the log - what would be the reason for this and is there any was to fix it?

1 hour ago, Pete Dowson said:

Sorry, you need to explain that. "Q1013" isn't a control recognised by FSUIPC.

The hotkey option within FSUIPC itself.

[GillyTheKid]

Just an addition to this - it seems like it may be an issue with the FSLabs. I ran two tests, one with the FSLabs and the other with the PMDG 777. Both named log files are attached below. PMDG 777 clearly writes the correct offset value, whereas the FSLabs is just not writing it at all. 

FSUIPC6 Log FSLabs A320.rar FSUIPC6 Log PMDG 777.rar

[Pete Dowson]

1 hour ago, GillyTheKid said:

It is indeed not writing to the log

You mean not writing to the offset 0330, I assume.

1 hour ago, GillyTheKid said:

what would be the reason for this and is there any was to fix it?

It's got to be that the STD button in that aircraft is not doing what it should. You need to get the author to fix it, I can't.

1 hour ago, GillyTheKid said:

The hotkey option within FSUIPC itself.

Ah! that's "Set standard altimeter" -- I wouldn't recognise it as "Q1013".

1 hour ago, GillyTheKid said:

Just an addition to this - it seems like it may be an issue with the FSLabs. I ran two tests, one with the FSLabs and the other with the PMDG 777. Both named log files are attached below. PMDG 777 clearly writes the correct offset value, whereas the FSLabs is just not writing it at all. 

So you need to ask FSLabs what is going on.

Note that neither PMDG nor FSLabs aircraft use or depend on FSUIPC. They'll be setting the pressure value via SimConnect -- or should be, at least. FSUIPC interfaces to SimConnect to read the value and populate offset 0330.

Pete

 

[GillyTheKid]

21 hours ago, Pete Dowson said:

Note that neither PMDG nor FSLabs aircraft use or depend on FSUIPC. They'll be setting the pressure value via SimConnect -- or should be, at least. FSUIPC interfaces to SimConnect to read the value and populate offset 0330.

I'll update my SimConnect and see if that helps. Maybe the SimConnect version I have installed isn't particularly liked by the FSLabs, or there are files missing preventing it from interacting properly with it.