Flows Delay AXE

[NoiZe91 0]

Hello,

 

The pauses between the flow commands are way too long. Normally a pause of 1-2 second should be made, but instead they are 5-10.

 

I have already made some researches in the forum and read through http://forum.avsim.net/topic/410493-question-about-cpu-priority-of-mceexe this thread, but no fixes worked for me. I have the exact same problems as stated by "KingGhidora". I also tried to increase the CPU-usage slider in MCE, but it didn't change any thing.

 

My software versions:

MCE 2.5.7.2

FSX SP2

AXE 1.15

 

Hardware:

4 GB RAM

Core2Duo P8700

 

Do you now any workaround for this problem?

[WR269 367]

Does the flow call for 5 second delay and you wish to change it? Or is it supposed to be 2 seconds and it is taking longer? Which flow is it? Might have a look myself.

 

Sent from my Mobile thing

 

 

[NoiZe91 0]

It is the pre-defined "electrical powerup with ground power" flow for the AXE.

parking brake on
pause=2
battery on
pause=3
upper ecam on
pause=2
lower ecam on
pause=2
...

but in reality the pauses are much longer

Parking brake on
pause 21 sec
battery on
pause 15 sec
upper ecam on
pause 17 sec
lower ecam on
pause 15 sec

[FS++ 708]

It is the pre-defined "electrical powerup with ground power" flow for the AXE.

but in reality the pauses are much longer

 

That's definitely not right.

 

What add-ons do you run concurrently to MCE?

 

Do you manually fiddle with processes affinities and thread priorities or do you have everything set to normal?

[NoiZe91 0]

What add-on's do you run concurrently to MCE

 

The following a add-on's are installed, but none of them were active during the precedent measurement:

FSUIPC

Squawkbox4

FS2Crew Airbus X Extended Voice

 

Do you manually fiddle with processes affinities and thread priorities or do you have everything set to normal?

 

No I did not change the process and thread affinities. Everything is set to normal. I even reset the settings to default (with the available tool) before the test. the only thing I tried once, was to drag the "CPU usage" slider towards "high". The pauses decreased a little bit but that was not even near the defined one in the vox-script. I couldn't drag the slider to the maximum (fully right) because the MCE window would always freeze when the sling reached half-way.

[FS++ 708]

The following a add-on's are installed, but none of them were active during the precedent measurement:

FSUIPC

Squawkbox4

FS2Crew Airbus X Extended Voice

 

No I did not change the process and thread affinities. Everything is set to normal. I even reset the settings to default (with the available tool) before the test. the only thing I tried once, was to drag the "CPU usage" slider towards "high". The pauses decreased a little bit but that was not even near the defined one in the vox-script. I couldn't drag the slider to the maximum (fully right) because the MCE window would always freeze when the sling reached half-way.

 

I assume your rig isn't overclocked. Some audio devices don't take overclocking ver well.

 

At the moment looking at the audio device as being the source of some latency...

 

If using a USB headset make sure it's plugged straight to the back of the PC and NOT via a USB hub or the front connector. You may want to disconnect the device, wait a few seconds and reconnect it.

 

If not using USB headset what is the main sound chip on your system? I mean Realtek, Creative labs, ....

 

Be aware MCE runs the speech engine inside "mce.exe" process. Anything wrong with the audio side will affect it negatively. Unlike when running the sim alone, the added use of speech reco means the audio device has to proces both audio in and audio out. For instance, a bad device driver could result in the beaviour you described.

 

If you have a 64 Bit Windows version, and you aren't using a USB headset, try un-installing the manufacturer audio drivers and letting Windows use its own drivers if available. With Realtek device this step is highly recommended.

[NoiZe91 0]

I assume your rig isn't overclocked. Some audio devices don't take overclocking ver well.

No it is not overclocked. Everything left at default!

 

At the moment looking at the audio device as being the source of some latency...

 

If using a USB headset make sure it's plugged straight to the back of the PC and NOT via a USB hub or the front connector. You may want to disconnect the device, wait a few seconds and reconnect it.

I do not use a USB headset. A simple microphone plugged into the mic input of my onboard sound card.

 

If not using USB headset what is the main sound chip on your system? I mean Realtek, Creative labs, ....

Audiochip is ALC889 which is Realtek.

 

Be aware MCE runs the speech engine inside "mce.exe" process. Anything wrong with the audio side will affect it negatively. Unlike when running the sim alone, the added use of speech reco means the audio device has to proces both audio in and audio out. For instance, a bad device driver could result in the beaviour you described.

 

If you have a 64 Bit Windows version, and you aren't using a USB headset, try un-installing the manufacturer audio drivers and letting Windows use its own drivers if available. With Realtek device this step is highly recommended.

I am using the default windows driver.

 

I want to add, that the described problem only occurs with the flows. Everything else - speech recognition and command execution - works without delay.

[KingGhidorah 209]

Hi, just noticed this topic, and yes, it sounds like Noize91 has exactly the same flow delay problem that I experience.  The bad news is that we never did get to bottom of what was going on, and we tried everything from priority tweaks, going from Creative sound card to the onboard Realtek audio, and other things, and FS++ was even helpful enough to provide custom builds to experiment with possible solutions.  Just when I thought things were finally fixed, after a trouble free flight, and I reported such to FS++, it would always seem the next flight would bring problems again! :lol:   Hopefully Noize91 can provide some insight and test results that I wasn't able to.

 

I should add that I still have a partial workaround by repeated use of the "Pay Attention!" command, which wakes the FO from his momentary slumber and moves him on to his next item. 

 

I finally gave up bugging FS++ about it, hoping that my next computer build, which I've been planning to do in the next couple of months, would leave behind whatever poltergeists exist on my current system and render the issue moot.

[FS++ 708]

No it is not overclocked. Everything left at default!

 

I do not use a USB headset. A simple microphone plugged into the mic input of my onboard sound card.

 

Audiochip is ALC889 which is Realtek.

 

I am using the default windows driver.

 

I want to add, that the described problem only occurs with the flows. Everything else - speech recognition and command execution - works without delay.

 

Forgot to ask...

 

Are you using one of our pre-recorded voices or some other.

 

Have you tried runing the flows without the "Verbose" option? I mean "silent flows"

[KingGhidorah 209]

Forgot to ask...

 

Are you using one of our pre-recorded voices or some other.

 

Have you tried runing the flows without the "Verbose" option? I mean "silent flows"

 

I know the question was directed at Noize91, but I have tried many times using non-verbose flows specifically to try to work around the issue being discussed.  The lags still occurred with the same frequency as when verbose was enabled.

[NoiZe91 0]

Forgot to ask...

 

Are you using one of our pre-recorded voices or some other.

No i use the default voice: "Trav".

 

Have you tried runing the flows without the "Verbose" option? I mean "silent flows"

No I did not. Yesterday I uninstalled everything reinstalled FSX SP2, MCE and Airbus X and the problem was still there. So apparently the problem is not due to another add-on. I will try the silent flow in the near future.

 

I should add that I still have a partial workaround by repeated use of the "Pay Attention!" command, which wakes the FO from his momentary slumber and moves him on to his next item.

Yes, the "Pay Attention!" also worked for me, but that can not be the solution to say "pay attention" all the time...

[FS++ 708]

OK, will get a Realtek sound card and do some testing with that audio chip.

 

That may take some time.

 

Meanwhile, is there any chance Noize91 or KingGhidorah can experiment with a USB headset?

 

Also, open mce.ini and experiment with these

 

[VoXSCRIPT]

DisablePriorityBoost=0  (valid values 0 or 1)

ThreadPriorityTweak=0   (valid values -2, -1, 0, 1,  or 2)

 

[sPEECH]

MaxConcurrentTasks=10

 

Thanks for your patience.

[KingGhidorah 209]

I don't think the Realtek is the problem, because as you might recall, I started out using MCE with a Creative Soundblaster.  I ended up removing the Creative in order to see if that was what was causing the flow lags, using the Realtek on the motherboard, but I still got the lags, and I've been running without a separate soundcard ever since.

 

I did previously experiment with those two tweaks, but could not get better results.  I don't happen to have a USB headset, so I'm afraid I can't try that out right now.

[FS++ 708]

I don't think the Realtek is the problem, because as you might recall, I started out using MCE with a Creative Soundblaster.  I ended up removing the Creative in order to see if that was what was causing the flow lags, using the Realtek on the motherboard, but I still got the lags, and I've been running without a separate soundcard ever since.

 

I did previously experiment with those two tweaks, but could not get better results.  I don't happen to have a USB headset, so I'm afraid I can't try that out right now.

 

OK will take that into account.

 

Not sure I mentioned this one.

 

[VOXSCRIPT]

SingleTaskTimout=6  (default is 15 seconds)

 

It's the maximum amount of time the thread executing the scripted actions will wait for a signal that the previous task has been completed before moving to the next one. This is to prevent the thread from stalling in case one of the tasks didn't report completion in a timely manner.

A single switch flip should realistically take between 1 and 2 seconds. However, one task could involve 4 switches with a total of 4 to 6 seconds to complete. Therefore don't set the value too low.

 

The timings given by Noize91 suggest the notification about task completion isn't received and the execution only moves forward when the timout is reached.

[NoiZe91 0]

Meanwhile, is there any chance Noize91 or KingGhidorah can experiment with a USB headset?

Unfortunately I do not have a USB headset. Sorry.

 

Also, open mce.ini and experiment with these

 

[VoXSCRIPT]

DisablePriorityBoost=0  (valid values 0 or 1)

ThreadPriorityTweak=0   (valid values -2, -1, 0, 1,  or 2)

 

[sPEECH]

MaxConcurrentTasks=10

So I did not have a mce.ini (searched in FSX and MCE directory). I created it directly in the Root-Folder of the MCE installation C:\Pro

gramm Files (x86)\Multi Crew Experience\mce.ini

 

Some strange things happened: now sometimes the flow work very fine. And then suddenly it gets delayed again. So I did the following thing:

• Start FSX
• Run Vox script "Electrical power up with ground power" -> no delay
• Ran the same vox-script 10 times -> no delay
• Continued normal start up procedure and then lag reappeared at next checklist
• Restarted FS X
• Ran vox-script "electrical power up with ground power" -> delay is here again

So i can not reproduce the error. I also think it is not depending on the mce.ini, because I also had this behavior once before adding the mce.ini file.

[VOXSCRIPT]

SingleTaskTimout=6  (default is 15 seconds)

What I observed during the times the flows worked well was, that all the checklist items took approximately those 6 seconds (with reading it out, setting the knob and waiting). So the mentioned time out problem could be the cause of the troubles.