Vpilot version 2.8.1. & FSUIPC4 v4.976

[Jay75]

Hello, 

When I start FSX SE with the new fsuip installed it connects but does not let me squawk mode C. If I delete the fsuipc files from the modules folder everything works. I don't think it has anything to do with the aircraft as before I could just manually activate it in Vpilot regardless. Maybe there is a previous version of fsuipc4 that I can try...

 

Regards, Jay

[Jay75]

ok, after installing the older version FSUIPC 4.974, I can activate Mode C on Vpilot but ATC gets no readings from me. (does get voice). Seems another pilot also could not transmit Mode C via VPilot, I am asking for an older version of Vpilot to see if the problem leis therein... to be continued

[Pete Dowson]

16 hours ago, Jay75 said:

When I start FSX SE with the new fsuip installed it connects but does not let me squawk mode C. If I delete the fsuipc files from the modules folder everything works. I don't think it has anything to do with the aircraft as before I could just manually activate it in Vpilot regardless. Maybe there is a previous version of fsuipc4 that I can try...

FSUIPC won't interfere unless you've something in your settings which leads to some action.  I'm afraid I can't offer any help with no information provided -- like how you are try to squawk ModeC and what the result should be. There are facilities aimed at Squawkbox for using an offset that program used to read, as described in the Advanced User's guide (page 13):

NoActionOn7B91: This can be added to the [General] section of the FSUIPC4.INI file, and set to 'Yes', to prevent FSUIPC4 setting the SquawkBox 4 transponder mode when an external program writes to offset 7B91. This gets over a problem with, in particular, the OpenCockpits driver, which seems to try to handle both SB3 and SB4 transponders by writing to 7B91 and dealing direct with SB4 at the same time. The FSUIPC4 parameter does not stop the FSUIPC-added SB4 transponder controls from operating, however.

and of course these are two added FSUIPC controls to operate this:

1001 PTT on (for Squawkbox 3, Roger Wilco or AVC Advanced Voice Client)
1002 PTT off (for Squawkbox 3, Roger Wilco or AVC Advanced Voice Client)

As far as I know FSUIPC and VPilot don't have any common interface -- unless they also followed Squawkbox's methods.

Pete

[Jay75]

Thank you for the swift reply. I did a clean install again of Windows 10 pro completely (again)... The problem has been verified. With the present version of FSX Steam, and the version VPilot 2.8.1 when using the latest version of FSUIP 4.976, MODE C on the Vpilot client itself can not be activated.

When using FSUIPC 4.974 it can and does work in Vpilot 2.8.1

Don't know how, just reporting the issue

 

Regards, Jay

[John Dowson]

10 hours ago, Jay75 said:

Thank you for the swift reply. I did a clean install again of Windows 10 pro completely (again)... The problem has been verified. With the present version of FSX Steam, and the version VPilot 2.8.1 when using the latest version of FSUIP 4.976, MODE C on the Vpilot client itself can not be activated.

When using FSUIPC 4.974 it can and does work in Vpilot 2.8.1

Don't know how, just reporting the issue

Ok, thanks - that is interesting...
Could you test with 4.975 please? I'll see if I can dig out (or build) a copy.. 

John

[John Dowson]

The only update for v4.976 was a change om the build environment, which is worrying...
It could be related to the VC++ libraries, as people have had issues with FSUIPC7 on new Windows 10/11 builds.
Could you try installing (or re0installing) the VC++ 2015, 2017 & 2019 redistributables from here (both x64 and x86):
     https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/help/2977003/the-latest-supported-visual-c-downloads
Please uninstall them first if already installed (individual or combined).

Once that's done, could you try 4.976 again to see if the issue remains.

Thanks.

John

[Jay75]

Tried it as you stated, no luck same problem. 

On another note, I just purchased FSC 10 from Simmarket, but can not register, did everything as stated in the "Registration failure_some solution.pdf"

The program is apparently the trial version that switches off after 30 minutes, don't know if that makes any difference but that is the one that is supplied by Simmarket.

Regards, Jay

p.s. This was how it all started, because FSC 10 does apparently not have it's own FSUIP client with it, and for the GPS to work I then installed the new fsuip client, ... the rest is history.

[John Dowson]

2 hours ago, Jay75 said:

On another note, I just purchased FSC 10 from Simmarket, but can not register, did everything as stated in the "Registration failure_some solution.pdf"

The program is apparently the trial version that switches off after 30 minutes, don't know if that makes any difference but that is the one that is supplied by Simmarket.

Sorry, but I have no idea what FSC 10 is and cannot support that - does that not have its own support forum?

I am still slightly confused though... You said:

17 hours ago, Jay75 said:

When using FSUIPC 4.974 it can and does work in Vpilot 2.8.1

So is everything working as expected with 4.974? You also said:

On 10/30/2021 at 11:31 PM, Jay75 said:

I can activate Mode C on Vpilot but ATC gets no readings from me. (does get voice).

Is that a vpilot issue?

How have you configured FSUIPC to activate Mode C on Vpilot? If you can let me know (and show me your FSUIPC4.ini file), we can try adding some logging to see what the difference is between 4.974 and 4.976. Maybe you could start by activating logging for Buttons & Keys as well as Events, and produce a short log file with each version where you try activating C mode on Vpilot (via FSUIPC). I can then compare the log files.

Thanks,

John

[Jay75]

FSC 10; Flight Sim Commander 10. Maybe I should port it to the other forum, my bad.

Everything works with FSUIPC 4.974. I am using that one now. With the newer version, when I activate MODE C on the VPilot client itself (always worked before), it does not stay lit, thus ATC receives no altitude readouts from me. The position and voice protocols do seem to be functioning as required.

In truth I can deinstall FSUIPC completely and Vpilot works fine, it is just that I need a FSUIPC client to make Flight Sim Commander work for the GPS positioning.

Unfortunately I am not a programmer, so I have no idea where to look or activate logging for buttons and keys per your request. 

 

Regards, Jay

[John Dowson]

Ok, so VPilot itself is not an FSUIPC client, but when using the later version of FSUIPC, which you need to use FSC 10, this somehow prevents VPilot from working correctly.
How strange....

8 minutes ago, Jay75 said:

when I activate MODE C on the VPilot client itself

Presume you are doing the in the VPilot UI, with the 'Mode C' button, no? If so, I can't see how FSUIPC can be interfering with this, especially as it doesn't even use FSUIPC.

I think you need VPilot support to determine why the Mode C button isn't working when 4.976 is installed. 

Regards,

John

 

[John Dowson]

@Jay75 Could you please try this earlier build of 4.976 to see if you get your issue with this build.
Save/rename your current (working) dll first so that you can revert if needed.

If you still get your issue with that, I'll post a 4.975a build for you to try.

I don't understand how or why FSUIPC can be interfering with VPilot as its not being used, but it would be useful to know at which version this issue started.

Thanks,

John

FSUIPC4.dll

[John Dowson]

Here's the 4.975a build for you to try, if the issue persists with the previous build:

FSUIPC4.DLL

Thanks,

John

[Speedbird1175]

I can confirm at this time, FSUIPC v4.976 (registered) and vPilot 2.8.1 with default aircraft (FSX:SE), Mode C button will not work.

If I simply exclude the FSUIPC module and reload sim, Mode C in vPilot works fine.

All other functions in vPilot work normally but, obviously without Mode C - forget about flying online.

Deleting FSUIPC and re-installing did NOT fix the problem for me. I do not have a backup of previous versions of FSUIPC to further test but,

the changelog certainly doesn't indicate a point of interest as to the cause of this. I have made no sim changes prior to or after the initial update to 4.976

[John Dowson]

Did you try with those alternative dlls I posted?  I think not as they haven't been downloaded. Can you please try them and report back.

It would be helpful to know why the Mode C button in VPilot isn't working with FSUIPC installed. As VPilot doesn't use FSUIPC, I really cannot understand this issue.
Locating the version where this problem first occurred would help, which is why I would like you to try with the dlls I posted.

John

[737-SimGuy]

Just a bit of input in case it helps. vPilot uses an area in SimConnect that deals with SquawkBox. I don't have the specifics with me but I do know that vPilot does not use FSUIPC in any fashion. Just FYI.

James

[Ross Carlson]

Hi John,

I'm the developer of vPilot, and I think I can shed some light on the issue. vPilot does not use FSUIPC directly, but it does rely on FSUIPC in order to allow aircraft to set the transponder mode and trigger transponder ident. vPilot reads bytes from the "SquawkBox Data" SimConnect Client Data Area (CDA). vPilot sets up the CDA as follows:

mSimConnect.MapClientDataNameToID("SquawkBox Data", ClientData.SquawkBox);
mSimConnect.CreateClientData(ClientData.SquawkBox, 128, MsSimConnect.SIMCONNECT_CREATE_CLIENT_DATA_FLAG.DEFAULT);
mSimConnect.AddToClientDataDefinition(DataDefinitions.SquawkBoxRunning, 0, 1, 0.0f, 0);
mSimConnect.AddToClientDataDefinition(DataDefinitions.SquawkBoxConnected, 1, 1, 0.0f, 0);
mSimConnect.AddToClientDataDefinition(DataDefinitions.SquawkBoxTransponderMode, 17, 1, 0.0f, 0);
mSimConnect.AddToClientDataDefinition(DataDefinitions.SquawkBoxTransponderIdent, 19, 1, 0.0f, 0);

My understanding is that FSUIPC copies changes to the Squawkbox offsets into this CDA, and it copies changes to the CDA into the associated offsets. As such, vPilot can respond to transponder mode changes and ident button presses for aircraft that support the Squawkbox offsets. This has worked well since vPilot was first released several years ago.

Now, based on a few user reports in the VATSIM vPilot subforum, something seems to have changed with FSUIPC v4.976. I just ran a test on my installation of FSX:SE, which had version 4.975a, and the CDA was behaving normally. When I press the Mode C button in vPilot, vPilot writes a zero to byte 17 in the CDA. vPilot then sees the value change, and lights up the button in the vPilot UI as normal.

I then installed 4.976, and found that when I press the Mode C button in vPilot, it lights up but then immediately extinguishes. I added some debug output to vPilot, and found that when I press the Mode C button, vPilot writes a zero to byte 17 in the CDA as usual, and I get a value of zero reported by SimConnect as usual (which causes the Mode C button to light up) but then vPilot immediately sees a value of 255 written to byte 17 in the CDA, which causes vPilot to extinguish the Mode C button.

(Note that for whatever reason, a value of zero for the transponder mode means Mode C, and a value of 1 means "standby". See: http://squawkbox.ca/doc/sdk/fsuipc.php )

So, it seems that version 4.976 is overwriting the value that vPilot sets with 255.

I reverted to 4.975a and the normal behavior returned.

I hope this helps, please let me know if you need me to assist with any further troubleshooting.

-Ross

[John Dowson]

Hi Ross,

12 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

I hope this helps, please let me know if you need me to assist with any further troubleshooting.

Yes, that helps enormously, thanks. I will take a look at this next week.
Could you also please try the attached dll to see if the same problem exists in this version. This is also version 4.976, but is the original build before the VS toolsets were updated.

Thanks,

John

FSUIPC.dll

[Ross Carlson]

45 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

Could you also please try the attached dll to see if the same problem exists in this version. This is also version 4.976, but is the original build before the VS toolsets were updated.

That build seems to work fine (I renamed it to FSUIPC4.dll, let me know if I should not have done so) ... I think you're onto something with the VS tooling change ... worrying indeed!

[John Dowson]

1 hour ago, Ross Carlson said:

That build seems to work fine (I renamed it to FSUIPC4.dll, let me know if I should not have done so) .

No, that was correct - sorry I misnamed it.

1 hour ago, Ross Carlson said:

I think you're onto something with the VS tooling change ... worrying indeed!

Yes, worrying...

I will check the changes made, and also I will see if I can reproduce here - I guess I have to register for a VATSIM account to do this, no?

John

[ascot54]

Hi all.. i too had the same issue with updating to 4976 reverted back to version 4968 8 JUN 2017 and all is working well.Win10 all updated and latest vpilot too

Rgds

Paul

[John Dowson]

1 hour ago, ascot54 said:

i too had the same issue with updating to 4976 reverted back to version 4968 8 JUN 2017 and all is working well.Win10 all updated and latest vpilot too

Yes, there seems to be a problem with the latest build of 4976 - please use the older 4976 build posted above while I investigate this.

John

[ascot54]

Hi John... how do i change to the older 4976 then ??

rgds

Paul

[Ross Carlson]

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

I will check the changes made, and also I will see if I can reproduce here - I guess I have to register for a VATSIM account to do this, no?

You can just download vPilot and run it, no need for a VATSIM account. The website is https://vpilot.rosscarlson.dev

You could also just make a test app that writes a zero to byte 17 in the Squawkbox CDA. Let me know if you'd like me to create that test app for you.

[John Dowson]

Ok - thanks but no need.

[John Dowson]

Just tried to reproduce this issue. While doing this, I am monitoring offset 7B91 (as UB), which is where the squawkbox data at offset 17 is stored in the FSUIPC offsets.

In one test, the Mode C was actually working, and I could see this value changing from 1 to 0 and back again when I click the Mode C button in vPilot, so it seemed to be working as expected.
However, on subsequent tests, pressing the Mode C button had no affect - no CDA data update received via the CDA and no change in offset 7B91.
Writing to this offset manually also produced no change in vPilot, so it seems to me like the data exchange via the Squawbox CDA is not working correctly.

You say that you can see this change but changes back again to 255. Is that via the vPilot CDA logging? Can you try logging the value at offset 7B91 in FSUIPC to see if the CDA change is reaching FSUIPC4 - it looks like it isn't reliably getting through, which is the issue, but I'm not sure the cause of this at the moment.

Its very strange that this worked for me the first time and has failed subsequently. I will keep investigating.

John