Using Lvars in fsuipc7.ini and or lua scripts

[Detlef_747]

Hello,

I updated to FSUIPC7 7.3.8 yesterday, because I saw the offset list for the PMDG 737. But somehow I couldn't get Lvars working correctly. I am familiar with Lua and am using it for Sim Innovations Air Manager instruments. I wanted to create my own Lvars with an FSUIPC Lua script. If I create the Lvar using ipc.createLvar(name, 1234) giving an initial value of 1234 that Lvar shows up as expected. But I cannot write to it using ipc.writeLvar(name, ipc.readUB(offset). I have added this section

to 737options.ini  in  C:\Users\dreu\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\packages\pmdg-aircraft-737\work

[SDK]
EnableDataBroadcast=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.0=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.1=1

(and restart of everything) with no better results.

I then saw that I could write Lvars directly into the fsuip7.ini file. I tried this:

[LvarOffsets]
1=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAP=UB0x65F1
2=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAP_Amber=UB0x65F3
3=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAT=UB0x65F5
4=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAT_Amber=UB0x65F7
5=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunFMC=UB0x65F9
6=L:IPCPMDG_FUEL_PumpFwdSw=UB0x6479

resulting in entries in the log file, saying the variable cannot be assigned because it does not exist. That remains so after clicking WASM reload in the menu. So I tried in a Lua script to only generate an Lvar if it does not already exist, but ipc.getLvarId(name) always returns not nil (meaning the Lvar already exists?)

I then tried with the default Cirrus aircraft and got no better results. I see that I can read from offsets but I cannot write them to Lvars.

I have tried all I can think of, so I would appreciate your help. I attach my latest log file here. That one was with the cirrus.

Thank you

Detlef

 

 

 

FSUIPC7.log

[John Dowson]

I am slightly confused by your post. The PMDG offsets are not lvars, it is additional read-only data provided by PMDG.

48 minutes ago, Detlef_747 said:

If I create the Lvar using ipc.createLvar(name, 1234) giving an initial value of 1234 that Lvar shows up as expected. But I cannot write to it using ipc.writeLvar(name, ipc.readUB(offset).

What happens> Show me the lua scrip, and activate logging for lua plugins and see if you get any errors. Note that if creating youy own lvars, it may take a short time before that lvar is available for reading/writing.

51 minutes ago, Detlef_747 said:

I have added this section

to 737options.ini  in  C:\Users\dreu\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\packages\pmdg-aircraft-737\work

[SDK]
EnableDataBroadcast=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.0=1
EnableCDUBroadcast.1=1

That enables the broadcasting of the data to enable the FSUIPC PMDG offsets (read-only) to be populated.

52 minutes ago, Detlef_747 said:

then saw that I could write Lvars directly into the fsuip7.ini file. I tried this:

[LvarOffsets]
1=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAP=UB0x65F1
2=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAP_Amber=UB0x65F3
3=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAT=UB0x65F5
4=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunAT_Amber=UB0x65F7
5=L:IPCPMDG_MAIN_annunFMC=UB0x65F9
6=L:IPCPMDG_FUEL_PumpFwdSw=UB0x6479

Do those lvars exist, or are you creating them? You cannot add lvars that you create using the [LvarOffsets] section as this is only processed when the initial lvars are received from the WASM. If they exist when you list them but are not available for adding to offsets, this implies that they had not been created when the WASM scanned for existing lvars. This happens with complex aircraft as it can take up to a minute or so to create all the necessary lvars. You should update the LvarScanDelay FSUIPC_WASM.ini parameter - this defaults to 5 (seconds) but is recommend to start with a value of 45 or so (see the Advanced User guide for details).

Any further issues, please show me your FSUIPC7.ini as well as the FSUIPC7.log file, and any lua scripts if the problem is there.

John

[Detlef_747]

John, 

thank you for your fast reply.

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

I am slightly confused by your post. The PMDG offsets are not lvars, it is additional read-only data provided by PMDG.

I am sorry if I sound confusing. My intention is to read contents from offsets and write that contents into Lvars that I create myself using Lua script in FSUIPC.

 

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

What happens> Show me the lua scrip, and activate logging for lua plugins and see if you get any errors. Note that if creating youy own lvars, it may take a short time before that lvar is available for reading/writing.

I did that here. See the attachment. I modified my lua script to be as simple as possible and inserted a 5 second pause before trying to write to the Lvar. My problem here: I always read 0 as value. I actually see the Lvars I created in my Airmanager instrument with their initial values 1234.0 and 4321.0 respectively. But after 5 s the display switches to 0. I have attached the files here.  So I seem to never get any data from the offsets.

 

6 hours ago, John Dowson said:

Do those lvars exist, or are you creating them? You cannot add lvars that you create using the [LvarOffsets] section as this is only processed when the initial lvars are received from the WASM.

I am sorry if I was confusing here. I did not try both at the same time. So when trying the .ini section I did not use a Lua script to generate Lvars.

So in the files attached I had the PMDG 737-700 running, with engines off, APU on. I tried these specific offsets because I know how I can use PMDGs original Lvars for that. So I know they should work (0x64bb and 0x64E8).
 

Thank you 

Detlef

 

 

pmdg737.log FSUIPC7.ini FSUIPC7.log

[John Dowson]

12 minutes ago, Detlef_747 said:

So when trying the .ini section I did not use a Lua script to generate Lvars.

Ok. But if you don't create the lvars, they won't exist and they will be ignored.

But I need to see your pmdg737.lua script - you forgot to attach that...

John

[Detlef_747]

55 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

But I need to see your pmdg737.lua script - you forgot to attach that...

Sorry, this is the script

 

pmdg737.lua

[John Dowson]

Try with:
 

ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_ELEC_annunAPU_GEN_OFF_BUS", 1234)
ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_APU_EGTNeedle", 4321)
ipc.reloadWASM()
ipc.sleep(1000)
...

i.e. you need to reload thee lvars from the WASM a before they become available. Note also that if a reload results in more lvars being found than previously (which of course there will be as you have created some), then this will/should trigger the reload of the [LvarOffsets] section from the ini.

John

[John Dowson]

But the problem looks to be that the offset value isn't changing, no? Presuming that is the correct offset (I have only spot-checked some and calculated the rest from an SDK file) and if so then the data isn't being provided correctly. As the SDK for the PMDG 737 for MSFS has still not been published, there is not much that can be done at the moment.

I will take a look at this to verify (tomorrow now) and will start to maintain a list of of valid/invalid offsets for the PMDG 737 - should have done this at release!

John 

[Detlef_747]

45 minutes ago, John Dowson said:

Try with:
 

ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_ELEC_annunAPU_GEN_OFF_BUS", 1234)
ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_APU_EGTNeedle", 4321)
ipc.reloadWASM()
ipc.sleep(1000)
...

i.e. you need to reload thee lvars from the WASM a before they become available. Note also that if a reload results in more lvars being found than previously (which of course there will be as you have created some), then this will/should trigger the reload of the [LvarOffsets] section from the ini.

John

I just did. The Lua program stops running then I think. I am not sure I should restart everything. I will try more tomorrow. And I will try again with offsets for a default aircraft.

Thank you

Detlef

 

pmdg737.log pmdg737.lua

[Detlef_747]

14 hours ago, John Dowson said:

But the problem looks to be that the offset value isn't changing, no? Presuming that is the correct offset (I have only spot-checked some and calculated the rest from an SDK file) and if so then the data isn't being provided correctly. As the SDK for the PMDG 737 for MSFS has still not been published, there is not much that can be done at the moment.

I will take a look at this to verify (tomorrow now) and will start to maintain a list of of valid/invalid offsets for the PMDG 737 - should have done this at release!

Hi John,

I experimented some more this morning. With the Cirrus aircraft (FS2020 default) everything works as expected. I can read from offset 0x0bfc (flaps index) and write that value into an Lvar that I create myself (L:my_flaps_index). I can see and work with that Lvar in Air Manager (which is my goal). The Lvar also shows up in the Lvar list, if I generate one with the FSUIPC menu call.

I have attached the resulting files here.

However, if I try with PMDG offsets, I always see 0 as value. (Maybe some do work, that I did not try.) Can I somehow verify that the PMDG 737 is broadcasting its data? (I have the SDK section in the 737options.ini file but maybe something else is missing in my settings).

Thank you

Detlef

 

pmdg737.lua FSUIPC7.ini FSUIPC7.log pmdg737.log

[John Dowson]

1 hour ago, Detlef_747 said:

;However, if I try with PMDG offsets, I always see 0 as value. (Maybe some do work, that I did not try.) Can I somehow verify that the PMDG 737 is broadcasting its data? (I have the SDK section in the 737options.ini file but maybe something else is missing in my settings).

It could be that those offsets are not populated. I am going to put together a list of working/not working offsets so that these can be reported to PMDG once the SDK has been released.
You could check the following offsets which are the most recent ones i have checked as working;

Quote

65EA

1

BYTE

MAIN_NoseWheelSteeringSwNORM

Boolean, false: ALT

Quote

65FD

1

BYTE

MAIN_annunSPEEDBRAKE_ARMED

Boolean

Otherwise, you can add the following to the [General] section of your FSUIPC7.ini which will log the reception of PMDG client data:
    TestOptions=x400

John

[Detlef_747]

1 hour ago, John Dowson said:

You could check the following offsets which are the most recent ones i have checked as working

Unfortunately I am also reading 0 all the time from those two offsets you mentioned. And I operated "arm spoiler" and the nose wheel steering switch.

ipc.readUB(0x65ea)
ipc.readUB(0x65fd)
 

1 hour ago, John Dowson said:

Otherwise, you can add the following to the [General] section of your FSUIPC7.ini which will log the reception of PMDG client data:
    TestOptions=x400

I did that. The log file says:

   267687 PMDG 737 Client Data Received: ID=1313289013, Size=1049, FirstDataDW=536870944 (FSUIPC7 logfile attached)

It says that just once, not repetatively.
 

I may still be missing something.

Thank you

Detlef

 

FSUIPC7.log pmdg737.lua

[John Dowson]

On 9/2/2022 at 3:13 PM, Detlef_747 said:

I did that. The log file says:

   267687 PMDG 737 Client Data Received: ID=1313289013, Size=1049, FirstDataDW=536870944 (FSUIPC7 logfile attached)

It says that just once, not repetatively.

This is correct - it only logs the first reception of data, and not subsequent ones. To log every reception (and a lot more), you can use the Log->Custom option and enter x4000 - this will log everything received via SimConnect.

Can you please try logging offset 0x65EA using FSUIPC's offset monitoring facilities, then remove the nose wheel switch guard and toggle the nose wheel steering switch a few times and see if the offset changes.

Not sure what is happening with your lua...there are only these statements in your log:

Quote

   451297 LUA: "C:\FORMSFS2020\FSUIPC7\pmdg737.lua": killed
   675750 LUA: "C:\FORMSFS2020\FSUIPC7\pmdg737.lua": killed
   822797 LUA: "C:\FORMSFS2020\FSUIPC7\pmdg737.lua": killed
  4550937 LUA: "C:\FORMSFS2020\FSUIPC7\pmdg737.lua": killed

Did you not set logging for Lua plugins? If not, please do that, and log to the standard log file (i.e. do not Log Lua Separately).
But lets first see if you are getting the PMDG offset data correctly first before we sort out why the lua isn't working correctly.
Better (but not strictly necessary) also to use ipc.log rather than print in your lua scripts.

John

[John Dowson]

There does look to be a timing issue when calling reloadWASM directly after creating  the lvars - I will look into this.
Changing the script to

Quote

ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_MAIN_NoseWheelSteeringSwNORM", 5400)
ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_MAIN_annunSPEEDBRAKE_ARMED", 2300)
ipc.sleep(1000)
ipc.log("Reloading WASM...")
ipc.reloadWASM()
ipc.log("Reloading WASM done")
ipc.sleep(5000)
...

produces the output in the attached log when toggling the nose wheel steering switch...i.e. as expected...

John

FSUIPC7.log

[John Dowson]

The WASM reload isn't necessary - and can cause FSUIPC to crash - I will look into this). The WASM forces a new lvar  scan when a new lvar is created, and there looks to be a timing or thread issue somewhere - and can also crash without the reload. Changing the lua to the following:

ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_MAIN_NoseWheelSteeringSwNORM", 5400)
ipc.sleep(1000)
ipc.createLvar("ipcpmdg_MAIN_annunSPEEDBRAKE_ARMED", 2300)
ipc.sleep(1000)

ipc.log("Startng loop...")
local v
while true do
  v = ipc.readUB(0x65ea)
  print("nose wheel steering Switch "..v)
  ipc.writeLvar("ipcpmdg_MAIN_NoseWheelSteeringSwNORM", v)
  
  v = ipc.readUB(0x65fd)
  print("annunc speedbrake armed "..v)
  ipc.writeLvar("ipcpmdg_MAIN_annunSPEEDBRAKE_ARMED", v)
  
  ipc.sleep(1000)
end

seems to be stable, produces the attached log. Note that new config data (lvar and hvar names) is received when a new lvar is created.
The rest of the log just shows the nose wheel steering Switch being toggled a few time, logged by FSUIPC monitoring as well as the lua script logging.

I will investigate the FSUIPC crash. On your side, you should set Debug level logging in the WAPI, forget about the lua script for the time being, monitor offset 65EA and see if that changes when you toggle the nose wheel steering switch (after removing the guard). I would like to confirm or otherwise if you are receiving the PMDG client data regularly - we need to sort that out first.

John

FSUIPC7.log

[Detlef_747]

21 hours ago, John Dowson said:

Did you not set logging for Lua plugins? If not, please do that, and log to the standard log file (i.e. do not Log Lua Separately).

John, thank you for the ongoing support. Sorry I deactivated the Lua logging at some point. I have it on again now.

 

21 hours ago, John Dowson said:

This is correct - it only logs the first reception of data, and not subsequent ones. To log every reception (and a lot more), you can use the Log->Custom option and enter x4000 - this will log everything received via SimConnect.

Can you please try logging offset 0x65EA using FSUIPC's offset monitoring facilities, then remove the nose wheel switch guard and toggle the nose wheel steering switch a few times and see if the offset changes.

Both is on now. I also activated the option to see offset 65EA in the windows title. It always says 0.  I have activated event logging also. Usually I would send event 32503 to operate the nose wheel steering switch. If I look at the log file, that event is present, but still offset 65EA is not changing in my environment here.

Thank you for sending your log file. Yes, I see it is working in your setup. Something must be wrong or different in my setup.

I have not yet tried with a modified lua script. But that seems not to be the main issue.

Thank you

Detlef

 

FSUIPC7.log FSUIPC7.ini

[John Dowson]

I have found the issue that can cause FSUIPC to crash when creating lvars and/or reloading the WASM in succession. This will be fixed in the next release, but for the time being please add an ipc.sleep call after creating an lvar.

As to your issue with the PMDG data not being received, I don't know what can be causing this., it is very strange. Maybe try uninstalling the PMDG 737 completely, then re-install and check broadcasting enabled and try  again.

John

[John Dowson]

2 hours ago, Detlef_747 said:

Usually I would send event 32503 to operate the nose wheel steering switch. If I look at the log file, that event is present, but still offset 65EA is not changing in my environment here.

Did/can you try flipping the switch in the cockpit UI (after removing the guard) - I am not sure if sending the event will work without removing the guard first..

[Detlef_747]

5 hours ago, John Dowson said:

As to your issue with the PMDG data not being received, I don't know what can be causing this., it is very strange. Maybe try uninstalling the PMDG 737 completely, then re-install and check broadcasting enabled and try  again.

Installing the latest version sometimes does miricles..    I updated the aircraft to the latest PMDG 737 version, and the offsets mentioned above do work now!

5 hours ago, John Dowson said:

I have found the issue that can cause FSUIPC to crash when creating lvars and/or reloading the WASM in succession. This will be fixed in the next release, but for the time being please add an ipc.sleep call after creating an lvar.

The lvars creation also works. I will leave the ipc.sleep calls inserted until the next FSUIPC7 version. I will try with a list of offsets, which will sum up the wating time, but that really is not a problem right now.

Thanks again for your help. I very much appreciate it. The issue is solved.

Detlef

 

[John Dowson]

👍

[John Dowson]

You can try the attached version - this is the same as the released version but with the lvar creation issue hopefully fixed...please report any issues.

John

FSUIPC7.exe