New Atc software announced

[d.tsakiris 420]

Are the voices going to be TTS voices? I would welcome that. It allows for much needed flexibility, and it can sound pretty realistic (try https://ttsdemo.com/ and activate the bullhorn effect).

Edited March 14, 2022 by d.tsakiris

[agutz 15]

Not clear if this is only for P3D, "the most realistic ATC for P3D", Steve Halpern at SimForums,
or "Traffic Management and ATC for Prepar3D and MSFS", FSHud website.

[787flyer 643]

Steve,

 

Thanks for the update. This product sounds very promising.

A couple more questions for you..

 

Is there any ATIS support via the FSHUD interface?

Does it support  intersection takeoffs?

Does it support en-route step climbs and descents?

 

thx
Mark

[Steve Halpern 176]

The first release will include 5 voice packages, but it will be expanded in future. Sound data is downloaded "on-demand" in small parts during usage of the application to prevent waiting and downloading large files. The technology used generates quite realistic voices.

The initial release will indeed be for P3Dv5. MSFS is of course is in the design scheme, and hopefully will not be too far away (as long as some elements of MSFS SimConnect can ultimately be applied that are now available in P3D). This could also translate to the MSFS version not having the exact same feature specs as P3D (if some elements of SimConnect are not available). MSFS is still evolving however!

[DModjo 122]

8 hours ago, Steve Halpern said:

The first release will include 5 voice packages, but it will be expanded in future. Sound data is downloaded "on-demand" in small parts during usage of the application to prevent waiting and downloading large files. The technology used generates quite realistic voices.

The initial release will indeed be for P3Dv5. MSFS is of course is in the design scheme, and hopefully will not be too far away (as long as some elements of MSFS SimConnect can ultimately be applied that are now available in P3D). This could also translate to the MSFS version not having the exact same feature specs as P3D (if some elements of SimConnect are not available). MSFS is still evolving however!

Hi Steve,

Will it be compatible with V4.5?

[Paletobay101 0]

If you take a look at the website it says it will be for both MSFS and P3D. However its still unclear on which version of P3D it will be available for.

[Ray Proudfoot 9,041]

7 hours ago, Paletobay101 said:

If you take a look at the website it says it will be for both MSFS and P3D. However its still unclear on which version of P3D it will be available for.

Utility programs like this tend to be compatible with all versions of P3D.

[neilhewitt 494]

20 hours ago, Steve Halpern said:

MSFS is of course is in the design scheme, and hopefully will not be too far away (as long as some elements of MSFS SimConnect can ultimately be applied that are now available in P3D).

Specifically... unless there's a way to read the current weather data from MSFS SimConnect (which there is not now) then FSHud won't know what the weather is (unless you fly 'live weather' and FSHud gets the weather from a service like NOAA, which is what Pilot2ATC does now for MSFS, which means you can't fly ATC-controlled flights in historical time). Bit pointless without it, IMHO.

[psolk 3,057]

17 minutes ago, neilhewitt said:

Specifically... unless there's a way to read the current weather data from MSFS SimConnect (which there is not now) then FSHud won't know what the weather is (unless you fly 'live weather' and FSHud gets the weather from a service like NOAA, which is what Pilot2ATC does now for MSFS, which means you can't fly ATC-controlled flights in historical time). Bit pointless without it, IMHO.

Thought that was resolved and PMDG and others are now able to read weather data for their weather radar...  

[JRBarrett 3,124]

26 minutes ago, psolk said:

Thought that was resolved and PMDG and others are now able to read weather data for their weather radar...  

Weather radar data is not yet available,

I’m not sure about his reference to other weather data via simconnect. MSFS has always had the ability to read current temperature, pressure, wind direction and velocity and visibility from simconnect at the aircraft’s current location. The simconnect variables for those values are the same as in FSX and P3D. However, MSFS simconnect will not give cloud heights or precipitation data which would be needed for a complete ATIS report, and that may be what is needed.

[nomad71 16]

I have a question regarding AIG traffic.   I moved from BGL to the AIGFP format using AIG Traffic Controller.   Will FSHUD be able to interpret these plans?  

[Ray Proudfoot 9,041]

54 minutes ago, nomad71 said:

I have a question regarding AIG traffic.   I moved from BGL to the AIGFP format using AIG Traffic Controller.   Will FSHUD be able to interpret these plans?  

Doesn’t look like it reading Steve’s earlier post...

”As long as the traffic data is part of BGL file - FSHud extracts those flight schedules, generates flight plans...”

[DChockey08 299]

I really hope it's somehow possible to incorporate regional accents the way PF3 does. 

It is so immersion-breaking to be sitting at RJAA or EDDF and hear nothing but american accents. 

[neilhewitt 494]

2 hours ago, JRBarrett said:

However, MSFS simconnect will not give cloud heights or precipitation data which would be needed for a complete ATIS report, and that may be what is needed.

Indeed. I am not familiar with the MSFS SimConnect dialect (nor, to be honest, am I that familiar with the P3D dialect though I have dabbled) but from what I understand, there are variables in MSFS which are still there but don't actually give any data back. I had understood the weather system was one of those. But I'll defer to anyone who has actually developed for MSFS and knows for sure. I know that despite Dave March making Pilot2ATC (somewhat) compatible with MSFS, it cannot read weather data from the sim. 

1 hour ago, DChockey08 said:

I really hope it's somehow possible to incorporate regional accents the way PF3 does. 

So when I spoke to the developer about FSHud some months ago, he said he planned to use cloud-based TTS, and Steve Halpern seems to have confirmed this. I *believe* the plan was to use Azure TTS but I may be wrong about that. Both Azure TTS and Amazon Polly have various regional voices available, but - and this is crucial - quite often not for English. For example, Polly has Chinese voices but they only speak Chinese words correctly. Accented English is a whole other matter. There are US, UK, AUS, NZ, SA and Indian-accented English voices for Polly and I think Azure TTS has similar. Of course, FSHud may be using something different. We can only wait to find out. 

True global regional accent support needs either a) TTS voices that don't exist now, or b) someone to record LOTS of voices like PF3 or (to a lesser extent) Pro-ATC/X with the add-on voice packs. I don't think it'll ever happen. But we can certainly do better than US-accented voices everywhere. And hopefully regionally-accurate phraseology, or at least ICAO outside the US. 

To get to true regionality, I think we'd need an open system that could be added to both with voices, phrases, and actual ATC logic. Something open-source-ish, where local contributors could provide their local environment. Again, I don't think we'll ever get that; it's too specialist a project for most techies to be interested in. I'd happily participate as a coder if there were one but what I know about ATC could be thrown away and you won't have lost much!

[Steve Halpern 176]

To try to answer multiple inquiries...

P3D v4?

FSHud would also be valid for P3Dv4 for those still using it.

Is there any ATIS support via the FSHUD interface?

If AI traffic or ATC is dependent on weather conditions - FSHud has complete integration of ATIS during all stages of flight… it is not just broadcasting weather and other details, but also a complete simulation of information that is relayed during clearance. For example, at some airports FSHud broadcasts ATIS with information "F" Foxtrot. Then during departure clearance you would hear "...with information Foxtrot.." - FSHud provides the complete simulation of this behavior. However, at this time it doesn't have the capability to take weather forecasts and plan flights according to all weather data taken from the simulator. FSHud doesn't have communication with 3rd party software such as ActiveSky… it simply pulls from the simulator the weather that ActiveSky injected. In future releases this feature is planned, where traffic flows will be set according to real weather forecasts prior to your flight.

Does it support  intersection takeoffs?

Intersection takeoffs are not in initial release.

Does it support enroute step climbs and descents?

FSHud has complete support for the vertical profile of both the user and AI traffic aircraft. It starts from the flight planning stage (if you take a look at the screenshot in the gallery you will see a scrollable chart with the vertical profile) where altitude can be adjusted and changed at every waypoint (as long as the vertical profile allows it). Altitude changes can be requested at any stage while enroute.

About regional voices...

The next releases (not the initial one) will contain additional  voices based on region, with German, French, Italian and Spanish accents planned. Later, more regions such as Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, and Turkish accents can be released.