VASFMC 2.1 Fuel Bug ?

[very-short 0]

Hi Guys , I have just installed the latest version of VASFMC { 2.1 } Gauge Version into FS9 but have found when calculating the fuel it seems to freeze , I have done a google Search for this bug buts its not well documented .... the sad part being that the VASFMC Web Site has closed ... Can anyone Shead any light on this ? is it only related to the Gauge Version ?? or does the same bug appear in the stand alone one as well ? I was really looking forward to getting to know this little FMC .Very Sad to see the support forums etc are off line .CheersAndrew W { Very-short }

[CaptainBerty 0]

Hi Andrew,I also downloaded VasFMC 2.1 recently (just before their site closed) and I also eventually hit the fuel issue.I believe that there are actually two issues:1. The fuel calculation is sometimes VERY long and you may think it's frozen!2. If the flight plan is not well defined (without any waypoints or incorrect waypoints), I suspect fuel calculation to fail.Note that you don't have to use fuel calculation, the FMC will work correctly without.After having used it for a couple of weeks, I must say that I'm quite happy with it.Cheers,CaptainBerty.

[very-short 0]

Hi Captain , Thanks very much for your reply , interesting theories on the bug ... its a great feature and want to stick with it I know my Fp's are pretty good so im not picking a waypoint problem as I use up to date Nav Data from Navgraph I will try your idea about taking a long time as I narrowed the problem down to a aircraft { at this stage my IFDG A320 } at first I was thinking of corrupt config file in Vasfmc on the base data about the A320 but not sure yet it is a great shame that VASFMC has closed down its a wonderful Addon for an airbus given the complexity of FBW . Thanks again for your reply I was beginning to think I was the only one with the problem ...hahaha not much floating around on the net about it .CheersAndrew

[CaptainBerty 0]

Andrew,You're welcome.I also regret that vasfmc is closing. It's really a cool add-on and free!!!I heard that the source code may become public; I will try to get it.Back to the fuel issue: I also recall that the calculation is maybe failing when you recreate a flight-plan over an existing one, without first erasing the previous one (using the CLR + FROM/TO buttons in the INIT page). Just to give you some additional things to check :-)Tell me if you can pin-point the exact cause.CaptainBerty.

[very-short 0]

Hi Captain , interesting theory about the flight plan ... one I will look into ... I have the IFDG A318 and A320 my problems seem to occur using the A320 so I opened up both the A318 and A320 AC Config files just to see if anything jumped out at me that was different in terms of basic systems ... the only thing I came up with was that the A318 had the following entry ....[General]atc_type=Airbusatc_model=A318editable=1The A320 had following ....[General]atc_type=Airbusatc_model=A320editable=0so as you can see the difference is the "Editable" so I change my A320 to the same as the A318 entry ... fired up FS and the A320 and went flying with no problems at all with the fuel input data ...... now am unsure if the change has made any difference as further testing will be needed .I would be interested to see what AC people fly with VASFMC and see if they have the same problem ?CheersAndrew

[very-short 0]

well back again with an update .... I have just installed an update to FSUIPC { went from 3.7 to 3.99 Registered } and hello my fuel problem is back I need to run a few more flights to see if It will freeze again but so far two out of two flight have frozen and both have crashed the sim ....hmmmmmm

[CaptainBerty 0]

Hi Andrew,For your information, I personnaly downgraded to using vasfmc v2.0a9 (gauge version).This is the latest stable version based on the opensource set of vasfmc source files (which I also downloaded).This version is not much different to v2.10, except that it doesn't include fuel calculation!And the user interface is slightly different, but really not much.The main reason for me to downgrade, is that v2.0a9 uses another type of .cfg file for aircraft profiles, containing enough parameters for me to create working aircraft profiles for various types of aircrafts; whereas v2.10 seems to hardcode much parameters (max IAS and stall speeds for example), making it difficult to create a working profile for an aircraft very different to an A320 or B737...Cheers,CaptainBerty.

[MeneMene 1]

Is the fuel calculation the only thing that's different between 2.0a9 and 2.10? What about the vertical guidance/tod calculations?

[CaptainBerty 0]

Andrew,Here is what I found out:- Yes, tod is present and called out in v2.0a9.- Speed and altitude restrictions appear in the flight plan and the MCDU,but the speeds restriction are not applied automatically (v2.10 changes the speed bug automatically for you).- For take off, you don't have the choice between flex temp and derated, v2.0a9 only provides derated (=N1 hold).Berty.

[CaptainBerty 0]

... Other vertical guidances, top of climb, bottom of descent, also included in v2.0a9.

[very-short 0]

Hi Guys , ok an update to this problem and I think I have found a work around ... ok I believe the reason VASFMC crashes when calculating the fuel load is now due to the plan data .... I have found that if your flight plan has a nav/waypoint very close to your departure/arrival airport it cant calculate the fuel needed as its too close ...example ... my flight is from say Auckland New Zealand to Wellington New zealand so the flight plan looks like this from Vroute....

 

NZAA|-37.0080560000|174.7916670000|0||ADEP||cfl=320;fnr=ANZ516;croute=NZAANZWN306;adep=NZAA;ades=NZWN

AA|-37.0046390000|174.8136390000|0|DCT||..................Problem line #1

LIMES|-37.5716670000|174.6386950000|0|H384||

KARRL|-37.9766670000|174.5122220000|0|H384||

NP|-39.0072500000|174.1839440000|0|H384||

AKAVI|-39.9996670000|174.2638030000|0|H384||

SWUTH|-40.7697220000|174.3275000000|0|H384||

TR|-41.1858440000|174.3623780000|0|H384||

BAXOV|-41.2411830000|174.5276830000|0|H235||

WN|-41.3372220000|174.8169720000|0|H235||............ Problem line #2

NZWN|-41.3272220000|174.8052780000|0||ADES|

 

The problem begins with the two lines I have highlighted ..... the waypoints seem to be too close to calculate the fuel required Thus causing VASFMC to Crash so a simple fix is to delete these two lines from the FP then re-save the FP import it into VASFMC . I have been doing this for a while now and it seems to work fine the fuel load etc is calculated and VASFMC runs fine pretty much 100% of the time .... I hope this helps anyone who uses VASFMC .... it was only by chance I stumbled across this fix but it seems to work I was able to narrow the problem down to the FP causing the problem because it was only sometimes VASFMC would crash so the only variable was the FP .

 

Enjoy

Cheers

Andrew W

[Luis Hernandez 566]

Thank you very much, Andrew, finally I can see hope for my PA A380 flights. Just a question: how close is too close? 3NM? 5NM? 10 NM?

[very-short 0]

Hi Luis ,

Sorry for the late reply I have been away , as to your question Im unsure as to how close is to close but Im picking anything under 5NM will probably be the cause of the problem ... I have a question for you .... so has this fixed the problem for you ? I would love to know if anyone else has found this fix to help ?

 

cheers

Andrew W

[Luis Hernandez 566]

Well, where my A380 is based, the next waypoint is barely 2 NM after takeoff. This time I didn't include this waypoint, but another one 20 NM away. I have no CTDs at all. I'll try again with something closer. Thanks a lot.

 

Offtopic: I've just reached my 500th post! :Party: Looks like I've flown a lot... 6.5 years for achieving this milestone? ^_^

[very-short 0]

Well, where my A380 is based, the next waypoint is barely 2 NM after takeoff. This time I didn't include this waypoint, but another one 20 NM away. I have no CTDs at all. I'll try again with something closer. Thanks a lot.

 

Offtopic: I've just reached my 500th post! :Party: Looks like I've flown a lot... 6.5 years for achieving this milestone? ^_^

No Worries , it use to bug me setting up my flight with VASFMC and then bang it would crash at the fuel Calc Stage , please do let me know how close you get it down before Vasfmc Crashes  congrads on your 500th post !