Demo V2.0 - questions/issues(?)

[debarba 0]

Hello all, I've had the V2.0 demo running for about 3 days now trying to decide if I'll purchase. I have a few questions and one, what seems like a bug, but maybe I'm doing something wrong.

 

First, I do love the interface...having your flight plan, weather, moving map, etc. all displayed in one screen is great. I have been using MCE and I understand the difference between MCE and P2ATC as far as pushing the buttons of the FSX ATC vs. a whole new ATC. It seems that P2ATC is a little more restrictive when it comes to phrases it will accept but I can live with that. Also, I did the speech training and I'm using this w/ Steam.

 

Questions:

 

1) I thought I would let the co-pilot handle the radios so I could listen and learn. How do you get that started - i.e. I've started the engine, gone through checklists and am ready to taxi. How do I tell the co-pilot to initiate the request to ground? Or do I have to start things by me asking for the taxi request?

 

2) I'm not sure I understand why the weather is different. If I pick "SIM" as the weather source, shouldn't it be identical to what FSX has (in my case, FSX is loaded by AS16)?

 

3) I have the "Chatter" checkbox checked but I never hear (or see) any other traffic. It seems I'm the only one on the airport and I have ATC all to myself. How do I change this? Can Pilot2ATC generate AI traffic so I can see and hear them? I did not change any settings on the "AI Traffic" tab on the interface.

 

4) Can this be used with MCE? I like MCE handling cockpit settings and doing callouts. I've turned off ATC communications in MCE, set UseWithVoxATC=1 in MCE.ini and unchecked the box that sets the PTT switch in MCE. I was hoping that when I press the PTT switch, only Pilot2ATC would hear/respond to me. When I do this, MCE is hearing my request and trying to respond. I forget what MCE answers with but the bottom line is he is hearing what I say when I push the PTT switch...has anyone ever tried this with more success?

 

Problems(?):

 

1) I'm parked at KDVT (Phoenix Deer Valley). The request, grant and acknowledgment to ground for taxi goes smoothly. At about maybe 1/4 mile from the runway hold short line, ground tells me to contact the tower. I acknowledge that and switch to the tower frequency - the tower controller tells me to switch to ground and get a taxi clearance. At this point, I can't get a taxi clearance or a clearance to takeoff. Is this a bug or did I miss something?

 

I hope this product works well for me - I like what I see but I have more to run through before I decide.

 

Thanks in advance for any help,

Bob

[mwilk 1,106]

Hi Bob, welcome to the club. i'll try to answer as best I can. I'm sure Dave (the developer) will be along to answer your questions more completely.

 

1. You have initiate contact with ground to taxi and with the tower when you're ready for take off. The FO will handle the radios for frequency changes.

 

2. If you are using AS16 for your weather, You have to designate Active Sky Weather and point P2A to the weather folder. In my case it's C:\users\Mike\AppData\ Roaming\ HiFi\AS16_P3D\Weather.

 

3. P2A does not interact with AI traffic so you won't hear chatter in that regard. There are generic chatter files that can be purchased and added to P2A. The link is in a sticky at the top of the forum.

 

4. I don't us MCE but maybe someone else on this forum does. I use FS2Crew and haven't had any issues.

 

As far as your last question. I've had the same thing happen to me. I think you might want to wait until you're almost at the runway before contacting the tower. Hopefully my answers helped a little.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 870]

Mike, great answers!

Bob, welcome.

I can only add that if you can set the PTT button in MCE, you can try  changing it to something that isn't used.  Failing that, you can definitely change the PTT button in Pilot2ATC, but it might not be the button you want.

 

With the copilot, a good general rule is, if it's a readback or initial contact report, with no decisions to be made, the copilot will handle it.  Otherwise, the pilot will have to initiate the call.  Clearance, Taxi and Ready for Takeoff are all initiated by the pilot, but the co-pilot reads back the clearances, etc.  So the hard work is handled by the copilot.

 

Finally, Mike is correct.  There is a bug in the current version that requires you to get a little closer to the runway before contacting tower.  Just wait until you are ready for departure and then make the call.

 

Enjoy the trial.

Dave

[Djembe 6]

Hello

 

4.

I use MCE with P2A v2 beta and it work well for me. Just set your config like MCE explain.

Basicly what MCE do is mute the MCE voice recognition when you press the PTT.

Thats all.

[debarba 0]

Dave/Mike, thanks for the helpful responses. I was able to get past the takeoff clearance issue. The tower did send me back to ground even though I had taxied to the hold short line but it was because ground did not understand my acknowledgement of going to the tower frequency. Once I went back and stated it correctly, the tower let me go.

 

Given what you mentioned about AI traffic, what happens if you turn on AU traffic in the sim? I assume you might be run over by another aircraft on the ground but I think seeing and hearing the other traffic really adds to the realism.

 

I wanted to run through a simple landing request, handoff to ground, etc. I was about 10 miles SW of KDVT and tried to request a full stop landing but couldn't get a response. There are 2 tower frequencies at KDVT but neither worked. I turned on the grammar help screen and when I clicked on the request for a full stop landing on runway 25L, I received an unhandled exception error in "Speech Assistant". I have a screenshot of the error but can't seem to figure out how to post a screenshot here. I can email to someone if interested.

 

Thanks again,

Bob

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 870]

Bob,

Generally the SIMs avoid running you over with their AI Traffic, so by all means, turn it on.  Pilot2ATC will see it and you can see it on the moving map.  P2A does not control the AI traffic, so any chatter you hear will not be coordinated with P2A.

 

Either tower frequency will work.  I suspect that your request was just not recognized and then the crash of "Speech Assistant" didn't allow you to make the proper request.

 

You can send the screenshot to me at admin@pilot2atc 

 

I'll see if I can fix it for the next update.

 

Thanks,

Dave