Deciding on MCE

[Johan_Dees 84]

Somehow in my many years of simming I missed MCE completly.

 

However, looking for a way to not being alone in the cockpit I am currently investigating options.

The competitor doesnt do it, since it is bound to one aircraft, and I like to have it in more aircaft, generic or not.

MCE looks promising.

 

It should work in FS2004 as is stated on the website. I want to use it in FS2004, and not FSX.

Before taking the plunge, and the high price some things I want to know.

 

Some questions and observations, especially watching David Herky's youtube channel:

 

1. 

     Around 0:40 the flight controls check is done, at an amazing speed.

     Is this typical or has David speed it up ? shouldnt there be a second pause between each spoken word ? sound unnatural to me.

 

2.  Can the FO handle comms on its own ? like the FO in PFE ? or is the captain always needed to speak to ATC ? thus commanding to open

     the ATC window and close it after use ?

 

3.  Are the spoken words with TTS voices better ? See video at 1:50 and a bit further. Sounds strange to me. Pitch changes in words,

     strange pause, some none, some one second to long. Also sounds way to robotic.

 

4.  Can MCE start talking on events, in stead of as an reaction of the captain ? simple example would be when capturing GS or LOC, and

     announce it.

 

5.  Are there operational differences between FS2004 and FSX ? couldnt find many FS2004 video's.

 

6.  Can MCE realtime remix the voice to let it sound more like spoken thru a headset ?

 

7.  Can the "my pleasure" alike responses be edited out ? seems inappropriate to me.

 

8.  Can the extra words, like "as requested", and the "okays" be edited out ? sterile cockpit!

 

9.  David has mixed in liveatc, but it hinders hearing his voice and the FO (not MCE related!) :-)

 

More questions will come up before I decide, so if you can answer these please, it will help.

 

Johan

 

[Chock 17,769]

Might wanna check out the review I did for it when it was first released way back in 2009. It's gained a lot of functionality since then, but the review will answer many of your questions, in particular about FS9...

 

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0409/MultiCrewExp/MCExp.htm

[Greggy_D 935]

Personally, I can't get past the disjointed nature of the voices/responses.  If the conversation was more free flowing and natural, I would easily purchase the product.

[Tight Git 5]

I'll leave the experts to answer most of your queries, but the answer to question 2 is most certainly "Yes".

 

In fact this is my favourite part of MCE!

 

Choose an appropriate FO voice and the interaction with Radar Contact 4 is just miraculous. :smile:

[Johan_Dees 84]

Might wanna check out the review I did for it when it was first released way back in 2009. It's gained a lot of functionality since then, but the review will answer many of your questions, in particular about FS9...

 

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0409/MultiCrewExp/MCExp.htm

 

Yes I saw your review, but a lot has been changed after all these years (where have you been btw ?) and would like to know the current version

and how it works on some parts, like the questions I asked.

I'll leave the experts to answer most of your queries, but the answer to question 2 is most certainly "Yes".

 

In fact this is my favourite part of MCE!

 

Choose an appropriate FO voice and the interaction with Radar Contact 4 is just miraculous. :smile:

Does this work also for FS9 stock ATC ?

Personally, I can't get past the disjointed nature of the voices/responses.  If the conversation was more free flowing and natural, I would easily purchase the product.

Yes thats worry me too. Hence the question of TTS voices are better in tonation.

[charlie130 196]

Around 0:40 the flight controls check is done, at an amazing speed.

Is this typical or has David speed it up ? shouldnt there be a second pause between each spoken word ? sound unnatural to me.

 

2. Can the FO handle comms on its own ? like the FO in PFE ? or is the captain always needed to speak to ATC ? thus commanding to open

the ATC window and close it after use ?

 

3. Are the spoken words with TTS voices better ? See video at 1:50 and a bit further. Sounds strange to me. Pitch changes in words,

strange pause, some none, some one second to long. Also sounds way to robotic.

 

4. Can MCE start talking on events, in stead of as an reaction of the captain ? simple example would be when capturing GS or LOC, and

announce it.

 

5. Are there operational differences between FS2004 and FSX ? couldnt find many FS2004 video's.

 

6. Can MCE realtime remix the voice to let it sound more like spoken thru a headset ?

 

7. Can the "my pleasure" alike responses be edited out ? seems inappropriate to me.

 

8. Can the extra words, like "as requested", and the "okays" be edited out ? sterile cockpit!

 

9. David has mixed in liveatc, but it hinders hearing his voice and the FO (not MCE related!) :-)

 

Hello Johan! Thanks for watching my "Sentimental Journey"!

 

First of all, the A2A B17 is not even a "supported" MCE aircraft. What you see is what MCE can do with the "native" commands from FSX.

 

1.The speed of the flight controls check is out of the box. I am impatient and prefer faster flows, but the controls check is just automatic. You can select to slow down the rate of speech in the menu, that may cause the FO to slow down a bit? But Travs southern drawl is pretty slow anyway!:-) LOL.

 

2. Yes, just say "your radios" and the FO does the rest. As said, the interaction is accurate. If ATC asks you something, you can either use the on screen menu and key in the reply, or speak the reply. If you do the latter, your FO will repeat exactly what you say to ATC. An eerie feeling comes over me that the FO is actually there on my right!:-)

 

3. Personal choice. I have the CereProc voice Jess. She's smooth as silk. You can use any TTS voice, as long as they work with 32 bit as well. The MCE voices are full of different characters. Some you may prefer to others. Some you will actually get on with better than others! Just as in real life, if you get saddled with someone you know you don't like, the flight is a real royal pain. Unlike real life, with MCE you can "switch" em!:-)

 

4. It sure does! The best example I have seen is the MCE treatment of the Aerosoft Bus. All PFC mode anunciations are spoken, "LOC BLUE,SPEED GREEN", STS, CLIMB, in fact all the 'Bus specific modes, etc... Standard things like Localiser Alive, Glide Slope Alive....are in all aircraft so equipped.

 

5. Don't know of any operation you wouldn't see in FS9.

 

6. Don't believe so. The "Meatwater" voices, available from Avsim,for RC4 have been extensively modulated and speeded up. So they sound like you are using some older cans! This considerably adds to the challenge of using RC4...Now you gotta listen well:-)

 

7. These have gone from the latest version. Again personal choice, but I quite liked them!

 

8. You can set it up in the "options" menu in the MCE GUI. "Talks a lot" and many other options are available.

 

9. Nope, everything you hear is from Radar Contact V4. I agree its intrusive. You can turn down the ATC volume if you want to. In fact, you can adjust the volume of MCE if you like. Also use the Windows sound mixer/sliders in the tray menu.

 

I am thinking of giving PF3 ATC a go. RC4 is great when it works, but does have shortcomings. My demo PF3 crashed horrendously, but I believe the full version works well....we will see?:-)

 

 

I have been flying Sims with MCE for a while now. Wouldn't fly an ATPL type aircraft without it. Its power lies in the ability to do all your own flows and checklists. Or just use those that come with the program. a powerful simulation tool for many. Those retired types that while away their retirement dreaming of the past, or the budding next generation who can get as close as possible to flying commercial flows/checklists with a First Officer and all the types in between.

 

Hope that helps a bit.

 

Regards,

 

David

 

PS and yes you can use native ATC...:-)

[FS++ 707]

Somehow in my many years of simming I missed MCE completly.

 

However, looking for a way to not being alone in the cockpit I am currently investigating options.

The competitor doesnt do it, since it is bound to one aircraft, and I like to have it in more aircaft, generic or not.

MCE looks promising.

 

Yes, there are massive changes to MCE since the review done back in 2009.

 

There are now 9 co-pilot human recorded voices to select from. And a tenth is on the way.

 

It now supports 37 complex aircraft under FSX & Prepar3D as well as 18 under FS9.

 

Some questions and observations, especially watching David Herky's youtube channel:

 

1. 

     Around 0:40 the flight controls check is done, at an amazing speed.

     Is this typical or has David speed it up ? shouldnt there be a second pause between each spoken word ? sound unnatural to me.

 

David loves to fly with a chatty FO. It's just his choice, and mainly to show the audience the kind of speech commands and how Fo can handle entire panels if you want him to.

It's possible to get him to perform his flows silently. And you get to decide on the task sharing just like with shared cockpit.

 

 

2.  Can the FO handle comms on its own ? like the FO in PFE ? or is the captain always needed to speak to ATC ? thus commanding to open

     the ATC window and close it after use ?

 

He can do with Native ATC as well as Radar Contact ATC. Not PFE right now

 

3.  Are the spoken words with TTS voices better ? See video at 1:50 and a bit further. Sounds strange to me. Pitch changes in words,

     strange pause, some none, some one second to long. Also sounds way to robotic.

 

The audio overall isn't bad at all. Where you may perceive a bit of robotic intonation, is when you write down a custom reply FO would utter. It's fluid audio for the known and pre-programmed stuff, and slightly robotic for the custom stuff. You guys really think we can't record high fidelity audio?

 

Check this out: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=673377470

 

 

4.  Can MCE start talking on events, in stead of as an reaction of the captain ? simple example would be when capturing GS or LOC, and

     announce it.

These aren't events per se, but rather standard call-outs. Yes they are covered, as they are part of crew cooperation.

 

5.  Are there operational differences between FS2004 and FSX ? couldnt find many FS2004 video's.

 

No differences, except that there are far more aircraft supported under P3D/FSX (37 so far, and not counting the Carenados and A2A aircraft), as opposed to 18 under FS9

 

6.  Can MCE realtime remix the voice to let it sound more like spoken thru a headset ?

No, we don't do that

 

7.  Can the "my pleasure" alike responses be edited out ? seems inappropriate to me.

 

You can customize FO behavior. More chatty or mono-syllabic, as you wish.

 

8.  Can the extra words, like "as requested", and the "okays" be edited out ? sterile cockpit!

 

No, these cannot be edited out, but you only get one of them occasionally as the replies are randomized, and not all of them have "as requested". It could be just "set", "done".

 

9.  David has mixed in liveatc, but it hinders hearing his voice and the FO (not MCE related!) :-)]

 

Again, David's videos are for educational purposes only. There are no "2 minute doctored trailer videos" to entice you, only for you to find out later it's not quite like in the video.

 

We have something called a Demo, and people should just find out for themselves.

 

In case you didn't know, Aerosoft has licensed MCE for use with their A320/A321. We have produced a separate package for them that doesn't require activation. You just need their aircraft.

People who missed out on the Demo, could eventually use it to find out whether MCE is suitable for them.

 

Last but not least, we have realized long ago, that running MCE inside the simulator process is a big No No.

 

The speech engine will be busy eating your valuable memory address space (VAS), and you'd be left to decide which other add-on to ditch for a particular flight.

It's also better for simulator stability. Should anything wrong happen to "mce.exe" or the speech engine that runs inside it (within "mce.exe"), your flight, the most important thing, will hardly if ever be compromised.

 

 

More questions will come up before I decide, so if you can answer these please, it will help.

 

Johan

 

Hello Johan.

 

Answers embedded above.

 

Edit: Oops! David was quicker  :smile:

[Greggy_D 935]

 

 

Personal choice. I have the CereProc voice Jess. She's smooth as silk. You can use any TTS voice, as long as they work with 32 bit as well.

 

I just went to their site and demoed William.  Talk about a smooth voice.  I may give this a shot with MCE.

[Tight Git 5]

And, as you see, MCE Support is second to none, because you can communicate with the actual software writer, rather than a "Customer Support Advisor" on work experience!  

[Johan_Dees 84]

Okay, gonna setup a headset and try the demo first.

The answers are promising!

 

One more question:

Is it limited to one PC ? if so what if I upgrade later on ? rebuy ?

[FS++ 707]

Okay, gonna setup a headset and try the demo first.

The answers are promising!

 

One more question:

Is it limited to one PC ? if so what if I upgrade later on ? rebuy ?

 

Yes,it's licensed per machine.

 

There is a sensible license transfer mechanism in place.

 

Also, assuming you save the key to external backup, and operate the same machine, you could format c: drive, install ANY Windows version and be able to re-activate yourself by putting the key file back in MCE installation folder.

 

For the sake of the Demo, and to make life easier...

 

Download (save), then unzip file and run "InstallMCE"

 

Accept default C:\Program Files (x86)\Multi Crew Experience\ installation folder.

 

IMPORTANT: You must set "fs9.exe" to run as admin.

 

The installer will add fsInsider.dll to \Modules\ folder.

It will also create a new <MCE dlls> folder, with 18 dlls inn it.

 

No changes are nade to files in your FS9 installation, not even "Panel.cfg" or "aircraft.cfg".

 

The only change is to "fs9.cfg". To make ATC interaction more realistic, MCE turns off 3 ATC options, which can be restored via FS9 "ATC" dialog box. Things like show ATC log and use Pilot voice (you don't want another voice repeating your transmission..

[Johan_Dees 84]

Ok, I see you want to have UAC turned off also. Isnt that a security issue ?

And run FS9 as admin. It wont work otherwise ? Since I use a restricted account for daily operations, its so much safer.

 

BTW, FS++ (Gerald) appreciate very much the effort you take in getting me testing it, a ++ for pre-consumer support!

[FS++ 707]

Ok, I see you want to have UAC turned off also. Isnt that a security issue ?

And run FS9 as admin. It wont work otherwise ? Since I use a restricted account for daily operations, its so much safer.

 

BTW, FS++ (Gerald) appreciate very much the effort you take in getting me testing it, a ++ for pre-consumer support!

 

Thank you.

 

You misunderstood. We don't recommend disabling UAC. Quite the opposite.

 

Because we intentionally run MCE outside the flight sim process (to prevent our app and the speech engine it hosts inside "mce.exe eating valuable VAS), under Windows UAC rules, two programs (2 exe) cannot communicate smoothly unless some conditions are met.

 

Calling exe must reside in C:\Program Files (x86)\

Calling app must be digitally signed (MCE is).

Both caller and receiver must run as admin.

 

All you need is have "fs9.exe" set to run as admin. MCE itself is compiled to always run as admin, even without the option ticked.

 

FS9 can be installed anywhere.

[Johan_Dees 84]

Thanks for the insight on UAC.

Tried my old headset, but mic has problems, gonna buy a new one and try it out.

[FS++ 707]

Thanks for the insight on UAC.

Tried my old headset, but mic has problems, gonna buy a new one and try it out.

 

Just keep in mind...

 

Demo only runs for 3 days or 30 runs whichever expires first.

 

They are consecutive days that is.