GNS530 and GNS430 controls are switched (resolved)

[SandyFlier 0]

I have Reality-XP GNS530 and GNS430 installed in X-Plane v11.31r1. Airplane is the default C172. In the standard setup of GNS530 as GPS1 and GNS430 as GPS2, everything works fine. However I wish to emulate the plane I fly for instrument training which has a single Garmin 430 with CDI plus glideslope. So I configured the plugins as GNS430 on GPS1 and GNS530 on GPS2, so as to connect the 430 to the upper CDI with glideslope. The 2D popup windows work OK (except the CDI button does not toggle the NAV/GPS selector). But the buttons on the upper GNS530 operate the lower GNS430 and vica-versa. Any explanation and fixes?

[RXP 2,336]

3 hours ago, SandyFlier said:

The 2D popup windows work OK (except the CDI button does not toggle the NAV/GPS selector). But the buttons on the upper GNS530 operate the lower GNS430 and vica-versa. Any explanation and fixes?

Hi,

The NAV/GPS selector may be connected to the GPS/VLOC mode if you select the option in the GUI Configuration Panel for this.

Which 'buttons' are you referring to? Is it those on the RXP GNS popup window, controlling the RXP GNS in the other popup window?

[SandyFlier 0]

The CDI button on the 2D GNS430 window actually toggles the NAV/GPS selector just fine. I don’t know why it malfunctioned before - pilot error 😀. 

The main issue is with the buttons on the 3D panel. The controls on the upper RXP GNS530 on the 3D panel operate the lower RXP GNS430 and vica-versa. This is only when the 530 is configured as GPS2 and the 430 is configured as GPS1. Meanwhile the 2D windows work as expected in this configuration. 

Edited February 15, 2019 by SandyFlier

[RXP 2,336]

This is normal: the default C172 only knows GPS1, therefore, its 3D buttons trigger GPS1 commands only, whatever GPS1 type is (530 or 430).

[SandyFlier 0]

What do mean by “only knows GPS1”?

Both GPS1 and GPS2 are functioning in different configurations, for both 530 and 430. It is only in this (non-standard) configuration that the control functions are switched, and only the 3D panel. 

But you infer that this is a compatibility issue with X-Plane. What can be done about it? 

Thank you. 

[RXP 2,336]

What I mean: the GNS in the 3D cockpit is hard-coded to send GPS1 commands. This is how the aircraft 3D model and its embedded 3D click-spots are encoded by the designer.

[SandyFlier 0]

OK, thank you Jean-Luc. That explains the behavior. 

And I also suppose then, that the aircraft 3D model has the upper CDI “hard coded” to receive signals from GPS1. My objective in the first place is to connect the GNS430 to the upper CDI/glideslope so that I emulate the plane in which I am doing instrument training. It would seem that I need to modify the X-plane model to do that.

Can anyone give me some guidance or an easy solution before I launch into the C172 model?

[RXP 2,336]

Ok let me try to recap and make sure of something:

When you say you've configure the GNS 430 as GPS1, does it mean you are using a GNS_430_1 set to GPS1 (default),  or, a GNS_430_2 set to GPS1 ? 

• #1 commands go to GNS_XXX_1 and #2 commands go to GNS_XXX_2
• GPS1 and GPS2 setting only define which set of datarefs the GNS overrides (the GPS1 datarefs or the GPS2 datarefs).

This raises a question: is it better the GNS respond to GPS# commands, or to _# commands.

The purpose of the lately introduced GPS# setting is to allow using 2 GNS in an aircraft with a single set of instruments connected to the 
X-Plane GPS1 system (datarefs), and using the 'Master Device' to elect which one is the actual source. In this case, it would make sense to use GPS# as the command # set as well, and the master would also be the one to receive the commands. However, this might also add an extra layer of confusion and indirection making this very hard to follow through and manage for customers.

I guess this would be best answered with an additional setting and let each customer choose but this would just add to the confusion I fear.

[SandyFlier 0]

I have the X-Plane pull-downs as follows:

Plugins > Reality XP GNS > GNS1 > GNS 430 1

Plugins > Reality XP GNS > GNS2 > GNS 530 2

RealityXP.GNS.ini has 

gauges = GNS_430_1, GNS_530_2

The “master” settings seem to be mutually exclusive. That is to say only one GNS can be master. If, in the pull-downs, I set, say, 430_1 to be master then set 530_2 to also be master, and go back to check 430_1 it is no longer master. Just for the heck of it I went into RealityXP.GNS.ini and forced them both to be master but when I restarted X-Plane only one GNS was master. 

BTW, I applied the mods you detailed in the Baron 58 tutorial to all GNS’s - 430_1 , 430_2, 530_1 and 530_2. 

What this means for me is I just have to bring up the 2D window when I use the GNS 430; the 3D panel with switched controls is too confusing.  

[RXP 2,336]

On 2/14/2019 at 11:37 PM, SandyFlier said:

 This is only when the 530 is configured as GPS2 and the 430 is configured as GPS1

3 hours ago, SandyFlier said:

I have the X-Plane pull-downs as follows:

Plugins > Reality XP GNS > GNS1 > GNS 430 1

Plugins > Reality XP GNS > GNS2 > GNS 530 2

ok so the 430 is a GNS #1. It is supposed to respond to X-Plane GPS #1 commands then, when you enable "Use Simulator GPS Commands". The 3D panel is hard-coded to send GPS #1 commands therefore the GNS #1 receives this commands whether it is a 530 or 430 doesn't matter.

In all case, any 'shared' resource (say the XPL GPS #1, or the pilot side HSI, or the copilot VOR2 - all of which have distinct datarefs) gets arbitrated with the 'Master Device'. If the resource is not shared (say GNS1 connects to pilot HSI and GNS2 connects to copilot HSI) then each resource gets updated by each GNS independently.

Now, since v2.4.7 we've added a new setting to override which X-Plane GPS # datarefs each override. Defaults settings is any GNS _1 overrides XPL GPS #1 and any GNS_2 overrides XPL GPS #2, but you can change this to have both GNS override GPS #1 only.

This discussion therefore lead me to think about this and wondering whether GNS_1 should get XPL GPS 1 commands, or GNS_X overriding GPS1 datarefs should get XPL GPS 1 commands.

This really is an open question for now.