FO & PF3

[FS++ 708]

6 hours ago, RALF9636 said:

 

No readbacks here neither.

I tested with FSUIPC (4.966c) Multiline Window on and off.

No acknowledging of the clearance. When I say "reply to ATC" he only transmits the callsign.

When pressing the roger hotkey manually I hear nothing (but PF3 affirms "readback correct"). The same when pressing any PF3 hotkey manually. So I assume the MCE-FO voice does not work when manually pressing the hotkeys. It would be nice if the MCE voice would work when manually pressing the hotkeys because the PF3 voice had to be set to None so manually pressing the hotkeys does not work anymore at all now.

Maybe that can be made possible in future with a PF3 text file to read from?

 

Other observations:

"Request Clearance" is not recognized. When I say "Request IFR clearance" the FO says "Delivery, request startup clearance". So what is the phrase to request the IFR Clearance?

When it comes to requesting pushback and startup the FO is still saying "Delivery..." even though that is on Ground frequency.

"Request startup clearance is common in Europe". When flying in US airspace, he'll say something else. "delivery call_sign ready to copy"

FO can definitely see the captions.

You need to disable the "PF3 mute key" and not use the DEL key anymore.

Assuming nothing is blocking "mce.exe" communicating with "fsx.exe" or/and "prepar3D.exe" Fo can definitely see those captions, and that has been the case for years. One way to check is to swiitch Fo to a TTS voice, then ask "confirm ATC option". He will then read out aloud the last known caption.

When UAC is enabled

1 - Install MCE to default C:\Program Files (x86)\ folder

2 - Set "fsx.exe and/or Prepar3D.exe to run as admin. If using a launcher app like "SimStarter" or "FPS_Limiter", make sure the launcher app is running as admin.

Just in case you're using the wrong package. The website is still on V2.7.0.6

Latest (unreleased yet) is V2.7.1.0 And here is the direct link

Latest MCE Beta for PF3

 

[FS++ 708]

On 5/15/2017 at 7:31 PM, d.tsakiris said:

Shifted back to the smaller planes, so now handling ATC myself again, and the freezing is also back. By the way, also with FSX' default ATC, not only PF3.

 

I make a transmission, but it doesn't get sent. I want to repeat and notice there's no background noise while pressing the PTT - the MCE GUI is still responsive. If you wait a bit, or toggle one of it's functions, the title changes to “Trying to connect...“ or something like that, and it freezes up.

I'm really stumped with regards these freezing events, as nobody else has reported them.

 

I am guessing it could be related to one of your joystick buttons being unreliable.

Suggest you unplug it and perform a couple of flights using DEL key for transmission and see how it goes.

 

[FS++ 708]

On 5/18/2017 at 3:41 AM, DrumsArt said:

After a short flight test with PF3 it seems some simple commands still do not work...

1/Ground>>>Indicatif>>>"Ready for Departure" don't match.

Mce thinks it's a request to change the runway (Ctrl Shift W) like in the previous version instead of the key "6". The result is I have the option with Runway XX y/n and so on....

I know that the command "At the holding point, Ready for departure" works but the simple command "Ready for Departure" should also work.

2/Like in the previous version the "Clear of the Active" command is correctly displayed but the ground or tower center don't answer, nothing. The same with the "Clear of the active, request taxi to parking" command.

The "Request taxi to parking" command seems working.

In this new Mce I don't see any difference with the previous version compared to the two commands I commented.

Is the good version ?

Thank you and Regards,

Richard

Just in case you missed that, you're expected to download latest from a separate link posted on this forum, and not the main website which is still on V2.7.0.6

Here is the direct package download link. It tries to improve on PF3 interfacing. It is V2.7.1.0

Latest MCE Beta for PF3

 

 

[RALF9636 1,956]

34 minutes ago, FS++ said:

FO can definitely see the captions.

You need to disable the "PF3 mute key" and not use the DEL key anymore.

Assuming nothing is blocking "mce.exe" communicating with "fsx.exe" or/and "prepar3D.exe" Fo can definitely see those captions, and that has been the case for years. One way to check is to swiitch Fo to a TTS voice, then ask "confirm ATC option". He will then read out aloud the last known caption.

When UAC is enabled

1 - Install MCE to default C:\Program Files (x86)\ folder

2 - Set "fsx.exe and/or Prepar3D.exe to run as admin. If using a launcher app like "SimStarter" or "FPS_Limiter", make sure the launcher app is running as admin.

Just in case you're using the wrong package. The website is still on V2.7.0.6

Latest (unreleased yet) is V2.7.1.0 And here is the direct link

Latest MCE Beta for PF3

 

I have done all that.

When I ask "confirm ATC Option" he does correctly read out the last caption (the clearance consists of two separate captions though - might that be a problem?).

But he does not readback anything. There is nothing happening after Delivery issued the clearance. The squawk isn't set either.

 

[DrumsArt 270]

1 minute ago, RALF9636 said:

I have done all that.

When I ask "confirm ATC Option" he does correctly read out the last caption (the clearance consists of two separate captions though - might that be a problem?).

But he does not readback anything. There is nothing happening after Delivery issued the clearance. The squawk isn't set either.

 

The same there...

Regards,

Richard

[FS++ 708]

18 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

I have done all that.

When I ask "confirm ATC Option" he does correctly read out the last caption (the clearance consists of two separate captions though - might that be a problem?).

But he does not readback anything. There is nothing happening after Delivery issued the clearance. The squawk isn't set either.

 

This is accounted for. When caption text length is above a specific amount, FO assumes there will be more text and will wait for the next caption before taking action. Maybe something incorrect with that value.

FO mainly considers captions that start with the callsign. And when a lengthy clearance is expected looks for other clues.

Would appreciate if you could post the second caption that follows the first lengthy clearance (overflow of the very first ATC clearance, as this one doesn't have the call-sign) to see if there is anything unexpected there.

try a completely different airport.

And try "Speedbird 1007" as the call sign.

 

[FS++ 708]

25 minutes ago, DrumsArt said:

The same there...

Regards,

Richard

Please try to do the same as what Ralf was instructed to do.

Thank you

[RALF9636 1,956]

13 minutes ago, FS++ said:

FO mainly considers captions that start with the callsign.

 

 

That led to the solution: in PF3 "Display voice set ID" has to be turned off!

It works now.

 

But there is a timing issue. When reading back the clearance, Delivery already says "readback correct" while the FO is still talking. So the roger hotkey seems to be sent before the FO has finished with the readback whereas it should only be sent when the FO has finished the readback.

 

 

[DrumsArt 270]

24 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

 

That led to the solution: in PF3 "Display voice set ID" has to be turned off!

It works now.

 

But there is a timing issue. When reading back the clearance, Delivery already says "readback correct" while the FO is still talking. So the roger hotkey seems to be sent before the FO has finished with the readback whereas it should only be sent when the FO has finished the readback.

 

 

Just brilliant, good catch, that did the trick !

Same timing issue.

For the rest it's just magic !

Regards,

Richard

[RALF9636 1,956]

Another timing issue:

When told to turn to Tower (when taxiing towards the runway for takeoff) the FO says "switching Com1 frequency..." and immediately does so - before the handoff command by Ground is finished. So that command gets cutoff by the freqeuency Change. After that the FO confirms the frequency Change - already on Tower frequency.

Instead he should first confirm the handhoff and after that change the frequency.

[RALF9636 1,956]

7 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

Another timing issue:

When told to turn to Tower (when taxiing towards the runway for takeoff) the FO says "switching Com1 frequency..." and immediately does so - before the handoff command by Ground is finished. So that command gets cutoff by the freqeuency Change. After that the FO confirms the frequency Change - already on Tower frequency.

Instead he should first confirm the handhoff and after that change the frequency.

Same problem when changing from Tower to Departure.

[FS++ 708]

27 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

 

That led to the solution: in PF3 "Display voice set ID" has to be turned off!

It works now.

 

But there is a timing issue. When reading back the clearance, Delivery already says "readback correct" while the FO is still talking. So the roger hotkey seems to be sent before the FO has finished with the readback whereas it should only be sent when the FO has finished the readback.

 

 

Thanks. Didn't know about that option.

 

yes, timing issues are expected (but will be mitigated) because FO has to "estimate" how long it would take controller to speak that entire caption (and this in itself varies from one voice to the other) before replying.

There is a specific new option for that. In "mce.ini", under [ATC] section, add this entry

PfePerCharSpeedDuration=45

the above is the default value when option isn't there.

Set it to "50" or "55" if FO is too quick to reply, or 40 or lower if he's taking too long.

There is another option for FO voice read back. As the PTT is simulated and its duration must be estimated, he may look like he's holding the PTT for too long before sending hotkey.

There is this option

MceFOPerCharSpeedDuration

Depending on the used MCE voice, may want to adjust it. 

It may not be necessary though if you don't mind the odd 3 to 5 seconds delay before Fo appears to have released PTT and finally sends the hotkey.

 

[DrumsArt 270]

8 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

Another timing issue:

When told to turn to Tower (when taxiing towards the runway for takeoff) the FO says "switching Com1 frequency..." and immediately does so - before the handoff command by Ground is finished. So that command gets cutoff by the freqeuency Change. After that the FO confirms the frequency Change - already on Tower frequency.

Instead he should first confirm the handhoff and after that change the frequency.

 

1 minute ago, RALF9636 said:

Same problem when changing from Tower to Departure.

You have clearly some advance in your flight compared to me but I confirm the same...

Richard

[FS++ 708]

10 minutes ago, DrumsArt said:

Just brilliant, good catch, that did the trick !

Same timing issue.

For the rest it's just magic !

Regards,

Richard

Thanks for feedback.

It's far from done, as we need to round up all the possible captions and eventually replace some when FO recorded audio cannot handle them.

And of course complex requests such as different runway, direct to waypoint and higher/lower altitude.

What was really surprising is how well the recorded audio coped with the captions so far. For a long time, we thought the only way was to force use of TTS voices.

 

[DrumsArt 270]

2 minutes ago, FS++ said:

Thanks for feedback.

It's far from done, as we need to round up all the possible captions and eventually replace some when FO recorded audio cannot handle them.

And of course complex requests such as different runway, direct to waypoint and higher/lower altitude.

What was really surprising is how well the recorded audio coped with the captions so far. For a long time, we thought the only way was to force use of TTS voices.

 

Thanks to you and team for the great work Gerald !

Regards,

Richard