Polite request for a Push-to-Mute button

[foxmike80 1]

I know this issue has been touched in other threads, but I consider it important enough for a thread of its own. I would really love to use open mic mode with a push-to-mute button; one I could also assign for VATSIM's push-to-talk button.

That way, I would mute FS2CREW while talking to ATC and FS2CREW would listen to me when not talking to ATC. It would be like switching from intercom to transmit in a real plane and it would be so much more intuitive and realistic than having two separate PTT-buttons for ATC and CREW. Might be, I'm abit simple minded here, but that just confuses me.

I really hope this option will make it into 1.1.

Thanks in advance and again for an otherwise great product.

[Commander_K 2]

I would love this push to mute button too. For me it's because of using it with PBE. I also use open mic mode (and I have no problems with A32NX. No disturbing background noises. it works fantastic) But when I talk to the Ground Crew on PBE( I use PBE with a joystick PTT) the Ground Crew wants me to release Parking Break and I answer Breaks released. The Co Pilot answers with Pressure Zero ( he think it is Break Check)
 

thanks

[byork 2,259]

Hard and soft mute seem to the biggest requests.

So, yes, we'll be adding Hard and Soft mute to V1.1 for sure.

I've also had reports of voice commands meant for FBW triggering events in PBE because PBE voice control is also listening to the mic at the same and acting on anything it thinks you're saying.

We'll be dealing with that too for v1.1.

Cheers,

 

[Commander_K 2]

glad to hear this. customer service par exellence!

[rnczyzcontrol 2]

On 8/24/2021 at 11:03 AM, byork said:

Hard and soft mute seem to the biggest requests.

So, yes, we'll be adding Hard and Soft mute to V1.1 for sure

Does this mean that, if we choose, the PTT button will not be necessary?

I have to say that, so far, pushing the PTT every time I need a command kinda breaks the immersion of just 'talking to my F/O'. So far, that is my biggest gripe with the A32NX addon.

That, and I am still trying to work out the installation issues. I cannot get the Command Centre to run automatically with MSFS, nor can I get the Command Center to launch anything. I have to launch everything manually outside the sim. The Command Center launcher just sits there and never does anything...

[foxmike80 1]

I just came around testing this feature and I must say that this is what I was hoping for. Thank you or looking into this.

However, the push-to-mute (soft mute) only works for a few seconds after the button was pressed. Could that be changed to mute for the whole time while the button is pressed? Or, alternatively, button press mutes and button release unmutes?

I try to use the same button for muting FS2Crew and transmitting on VATSIM. In its current state, I fear switching on and off systems when reading back an instruction to a VATSIM controller that might me longer than a couple of seconds.

 

[byork 2,259]

Thank you 😀

Yes, Hard and Soft Mute was something a lot of people wanted in Pushback Express.

Try holding the PTT button down.  Don't just press it once.

Let me know if that solves it for you.

Bear in Soft Mute is not 100 percent perfect.  Due to a Simconnect bug, we can read when you "press" the button down... but we cannot read when you "release" the button.

So we have an internal timer system to try to get around that Simconnect issue, which we hope Asobo fixes at some point in the future.

 

[foxmike80 1]

Thanks for your answer. The support here is just great! 

I am trying to hold the button down like I would for VATSIM. My idea is to push the button, this should mute FS2Crew and initiate the transmission on VATSIM. Once I release the PTT, the transmission should end and FS2Crew start to listen again. So FS2Crew should basically ignore anything I say while I push the button.

Might be I'm understanding something about the timer wrong, but doesn't VATSIM's client do excatly that? Recognize the PTT push - transmit until it is released no matter how long the transmission. 

Again, thanks for your great support.

 

[byork 2,259]

I'm not sure how VATSIM's client work regarding push to talk since I never use Vatsim.

I'll ask the Client's developer.  Maybe they're not using Simconnect for joystick presses.

[foxmike80 1]

Thanks a lot for looking into this. This is really appreciated.

You might be right that they are not using Simconnect. Can you detect Joystick presses in any other way or can you detect when a button is released? If so, you could assign button press as mute and button release as unmute.

[byork 2,259]

We're using C# Net.  There are old Direct X wrappers for C# net, but they're no longer being supported so using them would be risky.

You'd think that C# net would have built in joystick support, but it doesn't.

So we currently have to use what Simconnect gives us until we find a better way.

The current system works, but it can always be better.

 

[foxmike80 1]

While testing joystick settings today I discovered that FS2Crew detects joystick pressed and joystick button released as separate commands - at least the windows that pop up say so.

If you used the joystick button pressed event as the trigger to mute the mic and the joystick button released as the unmute event, this should do the trick, because then there is no 4 second limit. I tried to hold the button pressed for more than 10 seconds and the "joystick button released" window only appeared after I had released the button.

[byork 2,259]

The joystick / keyboard code has been redone from scratch (again).

We're now using Direct X.  You'll see it in the next public beta.

You'll be able to assign buttons by pushing the buttons.  It's much better.

 

[foxmike80 1]

This is really great news. Does that mean the 4 seconds limit is gone?

[byork 2,259]

7 hours ago, foxmike80 said:

This is really great news. Does that mean the 4 seconds limit is gone?

Yes... it's a much better system now.