FO & PF3

[RALF9636 1,957]

19 minutes ago, FS++ said:

Most work done over the last couple of weeks was related to getting MCE to fully support P3D V4 64 Bit. That's now pretty much done and a release should follow tomorrow.

As far as PF3 is concerned, this patch only adds ability for FO to dial frequencies on request, and not wait until he can catch them via the captions.

There is also a performance tweak.

MCE is now less aggressive with request for captions. Only fetches new caption from the sim, when it has changed.

Apart from that it's pretty much as it was in earlier patch.

The updated "enghlp.dll" is just relevant for the BVI pilots. It explains what button or option does what in the MCE user interface, provided built-in narrator is enabled 

 

Thanks for the explanation. Given that you give priority to things relevant for the the majority of users I clearly understand that PF3 had to give way once more, this time to P3DV4

Quote

As far as PF3 is concerned, this patch only adds ability for FO to dial frequencies on request, and not wait until he can catch them via the captions.

Does this mean that I can say "Set Com1 to <any facility name listed in the pf3_freqs.dat file>"?

 

I will test the perfomance tweak. Meanwhile I found that it helped a lot with performance to take away MCE from the Core used by the P3D main thread.

 

[FS++ 708]

1 hour ago, RALF9636 said:

Thanks for the explanation. Given that you give priority to things relevant for the the majority of users I clearly understand that PF3 had to give way once more, this time to P3DV4

Does this mean that I can say "Set Com1 to <any facility name listed in the pf3_freqs.dat file>"?

 

I will test the perfomance tweak. Meanwhile I found that it helped a lot with performance to take away MCE from the Core used by the P3D main thread.

 

Affirmative. Speech commands such as...

"Switching to ground", "going to tower", should depend on what info is in the file.

Previously, FO would see them only when there is a caption such as "TowerFreq : XXXX", "GroundFreq: XXXX". It was a hit and miss. Should be reliable now.

Regarding affinity mask, of course you're free to do that.

Keep in mind, the whole speech engine that has a few threads of its own, runs inside "mce.exe" process. Therefore, setting affinity mask will also affect those threads.

Not saying in a negative way. 

 

[glider1 90]

On ‎7‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 8:32 PM, FS++ said:

A new patch is available. It improves the PF3 interfacing slightly among other things.

Download this zip file here

Manually replace 2 files in \Multi Crew Experience\ folder, as well as fsInsider.dll in FSX or \Prepar3d V3\ folder.

MCE now making use of the PF3 file, that lists the frequencies, and generated inside the simulator folder.

Thank you!

[RALF9636 1,957]

2.7.20

 

My FO in "You have ATC" mode is not responding to ATC automatically any more. And when I say "reply to ATC" he just says the callsign. Seems like he does not read the captions any more.

Maybe something went wrong with the change in fetching the captions?

Anyone else seeing this?

 

[FS++ 708]

16 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

2.7.20

 

My FO in "You have ATC" mode is not responding to ATC automatically any more. And when I say "reply to ATC" he just says the callsign. Seems like he does not read the captions any more.

Maybe something went wrong with the change in fetching the captions?

Anyone else seeing this?

 

Make sure you replace fsInsider.dll in simulator folder as well.

Or, re-download and install full package, just in case something is out of sync.

 

[RALF9636 1,957]

Re-downloaded and re-installed the full package. Problem persists.

[FS++ 708]

8 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

Re-downloaded and re-installed the full package. Problem persists.

What airport?

The tricky bit with captions, is knowing when there is a follow-up or not.

Short captions are easy to spot and report. But with those around 118 to 127 characters, you don't know for sure whether there will be a second caption following immediately after. It's usually the case with initial clearance delivery, or lengthy taxi instructions.

Ideally, FO would wait until the second caption which completes the first one goes through before replying. And if he wrongly assumed the first one is of the lengthy type....you get the point.

Now, if FO doesn't see any caption it's a different matter.

I

[RALF9636 1,957]

19 minutes ago, FS++ said:

What airport?

The tricky bit with captions, is knowing when there is a follow-up or not.

Short captions are easy to spot and report. But with those around 118 to 127 characters, you don't know for sure whether there will be a second caption following immediately after. It's usually the case with initial clearance delivery, or lengthy taxi instructions.

Ideally, FO would wait until the second caption which completes the first one goes through before replying. And if he wrongly assumed the first one is of the lengthy type....you get the point.

Now, if FO doesn't see any caption it's a different matter.

I

Tested at EDDL and GCFV. Went from ATC clearance all the way to Takeoff clearance. FO seems not to see a caption at all

Double-checked closed captions are on, Display voice ID set off, and said "you have ATC", which was confirmed.

[FS++ 708]

1 hour ago, RALF9636 said:

Tested at EDDL and GCFV. Went from ATC clearance all the way to Takeoff clearance. FO seems not to see a caption at all

Double-checked closed captions are on, Display voice ID set off, and said "you have ATC", which was confirmed.

Did a quick departure from EDDL to EDDM and FO acknowledged everything.

The only thing I found not smooth enough is request for a different runway. Had to ask Fo 3 times before he could go through the lengthy list of taxi waypoints.

pf3.exe V3.5.0.1

mce.exe V2.7.2.0

In FSX installation folder, fsInsider V2.7.2.1

Note: You still need to enable "Closed Captions" in PF3. The captionless implementation isn't ready yet.

Another thing I forgot to mention, when you close the sim, the new fsInsider.dll will send a message to PF3 to tell it to close, preventing it from crashing when you end the sim session abruptly, without disconnecting first. Same with Radar Contact ATC.

Will see if anybody else has the issue.

Don't forget, you can always ask FO "confirm ATC options" and you can check whether MCE is getting those captions.

One suggestion. Go to unzipped downloaded file, copy both "fsInsider.ini" and "fsInsider.dll", then paste them to simulator folder.

[RALF9636 1,957]

Found the problem. I had used the callsign "Cessna 39K". Now I changed to "Air Berlin 223" and it works fine again. So obviously the FO does not recognize the "Cessna" callsign in the captions. I seem to remember having read something about that a while ago but don't know exactly.

 

"Going to Delivery" etc. works fine by the way. Thanks, nice feature.

 

3 hours ago, FS++ said:

Another thing I forgot to mention, when you close the sim, the new fsInsider.dll will send a message to PF3 to tell it to close, preventing it from crashing when you end the sim session abruptly, without disconnecting first. Same with Radar Contact ATC.

 

Thanks a lot for that. I have always been annoyed by that crash.

 

 

[FS++ 708]

16 hours ago, RALF9636 said:

Found the problem. I had used the callsign "Cessna 39K". Now I changed to "Air Berlin 223" and it works fine again. So obviously the FO does not recognize the "Cessna" callsign in the captions. I seem to remember having read something about that a while ago but don't know exactly.

 

"Going to Delivery" etc. works fine by the way. Thanks, nice feature.

 

Thanks a lot for that. I have always been annoyed by that crash.

 

 

Bug confirmed. It's not "Cessna" which is recognized. It's rather a tail registration that starts with a digit that doesn't seem to be covered. Try "Cessna K39" until next update.

[RALF9636 1,957]

On 7/16/2017 at 2:53 PM, FS++ said:

Bug confirmed. It's not "Cessna" which is recognized. It's rather a tail registration that starts with a digit that doesn't seem to be covered. Try "Cessna K39" until next update.

I can confirm that it works fine with "Cessna N61".

[FS++ 708]

On 7/17/2017 at 9:10 PM, RALF9636 said:

I can confirm that it works fine with "Cessna N61".

Unzip this file and replace one file in \Multi Crew Experience\ installation folder.

Should handle all sorts of call-signs

Gives you the option to finally turn off "Closed Captions" option if you wish.

Known issue. When asking FO to request a different runway, may need to ask more than once.

 

[RALF9636 1,957]

Thank you!

Will test after returning from summer vacation. 

[Helix1250 3]

Is MCE utilising the PF3 log file or does it still require Closed captions? 

Rob