Lately I noticed a significant lag when I talk to PF3-ATC myself. After I finish my phrase and release the PTT button it takes about 5 to 10 seconds before PF3 replies.

It is not a PF3 issue. If I press the hotkey manually PF3 replies immediately.

And apart from the PF3-ATC-interaction there is no lag at all when communicating with MCE.

 

So I wonder what might be the reason for this.

Is it possible that MCE inadvertently applies the same pause that is necessary for the FO to talk when in "You have ATC"-mode also to the "I have ATC"-mode?

Or is it some kind of performance issue? Is it to be expected because the PF3 grammar has become more complex over time? But then again the rest of the grammar (outside ATC) must also be very complex and there is no lag at all. Any setting to reduce the lag?

 

Edited June 28, 20187 yr by RALF9636

42 minutes ago, RALF9636 said:

Lately I noticed a significant lag when I talk to PF3-ATC myself. After I finish my phrase and release the PTT button it takes about 5 to 10 seconds before PF3 replies.

It is not a PF3 issue. If I press the hotkey manually PF3 replies immediately.

And apart from the PF3-ATC-interaction there is no lag at all when communicating with MCE.

 

So I wonder what might be the reason for this.

Is it possible that MCE inadvertently applies the same pause that is necessary for the FO to talk when in "You have ATC"-mode also to the "I have ATC"-mode?

Or is it some kind of performance issue? Is it to be expected because the PF3 grammar has become more complex over time? But then again the rest of the grammar (outside ATC) must also be very complex and there is no lag at all. Any setting to reduce the lag?

 

What's your headset connection configuration.

Is it USB headset?

Is it connected straight to the back of PC, or via a USB hub?

And what about the joystick? (if using a joystick button as PTT)

Both headset and joystick are connected via a USB hub and cables.

 

But as I said. All other commands to MCE go through without a lag.

Edited June 28, 20187 yr by RALF9636

Suggest you plug the headset straight to the back of the PC, and not via the USB hub.

Audio device is a high bandwidth device and doesn't like to be disturbed when shifting data both ways, IN (for speech reco) and OUT (for all other audio).

Pressing the joystick button will inevitably trigger some activity on the USB hub.

It can also be linked to USB hub struggling to deliver enough power consistently when many hungry devices are connected to it, and active at the same time. 

 

I am now using a microphone with an audio jack plugged directly into the back of the PC and I also plugged the joystick with the PTT button directly into the back of the PC (USB).

 

The lag is still there. I did a procedure from ATC clearance via pushback clearance to taxi clearance, once with MCE and once by pressing the hotkeys manually and measured the time until ATC responded:

Whereas with pressing the hotkeys manually it took between 1 and 5 seconds, with MCE it took between 10 and 15 seconds.

 

Any other idea? Or is this to be expected?

 

1 hour ago, RALF9636 said:

I am now using a microphone with an audio jack plugged directly into the back of the PC and I also plugged the joystick with the PTT button directly into the back of the PC (USB).

 

The lag is still there. I did a procedure from ATC clearance via pushback clearance to taxi clearance, once with MCE and once by pressing the hotkeys manually and measured the time until ATC responded:

Whereas with pressing the hotkeys manually it took between 1 and 5 seconds, with MCE it took between 10 and 15 seconds.

 

Any other idea? Or is this to be expected?

 

Suggest you elevate "Pf3.exe" process to run at high priority.

If using Q400, be aware that aircraft has a few busy background threads (that run the stuff outside the sim), which very few other aircraft have. When flying that aircraft and multi-tasking with other applications, you do notice lags .

Not that you need Multi-tasking when flying, and not suggesting anything is wrong with Q400. Just need to be aware of that.

PF3 is very conservative with system resources. And since it's running as a background task, I always believed, sometimes it's better to give it a bit more CPU attention.

It shouldn't take 5 seconds when pressing manually. I would say 2 to 3 seconds should be the norm.

Try it with default aircraft just to see.

If you've been using a USB headset, suggest you revert to that one as well.

Be aware, a speech profile is a collection of 3 things.

- A user voice

- A specific headset (including type of connection)

- A set of ambient noise conditions.

Change any of the above and the trained speech profile is no longer fit for purpose. It could eventually cause the speech engine to waste system resources by constantly analyzing noise,. as if you were speaking continuously.

Maybe ambient noise conditions have changed (a nearby fan to beat the heatwave?? 😃)

To make a long story short:

 

Looking at my PF3-logs I found the reason for the problem. 

 

I have the PF3-PTT-hotkey assigned to the MCE-PTT button via FSUIPC. And in FSUIPC I had set that to "repeat while held". That effectively always added one or two more PTT intervals (I set it to 8 seconds) which then blocked PF3 from responding to the hotkey sent by MCE. Once I unticked "repeat while held", the lag was gone.

 

Thanks for your help (to rule out all other possible reasons... 😜)

 

Edited July 2, 20187 yr by RALF9636