VRInsight FCU Combo II and Fenix A320

[VFRHawk 16]

I've just taken delivery of a VRI FCU Combo II and I'm looking at how to interface it to the Fenix A320 in MSFS.  I've tried FSUIPC and LINDA and am currently struggling to get anything other than the LCD screens working - no buttons work - so I'm looking at Axis and Ohs as an alternative while I chat with the LINDA developer.

I can see the buttons and rotaries being read in the demo using the VRIBridge, so I know the unit is working.

I also saw a profile on flightsim.to that purported to be for the FBW320, but that people said in the comments worked with the Fenix as well - though that was a few months ago.  I've loaded that profile and linked it to the Fenix, but I'm not seeing the controls on the VRI unit changing anything in the sim apart from the radio panel.  Before I spend too long trying to work out why, does anyone have a better option for a profile, or even know if there's a reason it doesn't work and save me digging?

And is there another option that makes the screens work already?  They just show zero for speed altitude etc.

Many Thanks

 

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

I doubt that the Fexnix and FBW have a lot of controls in common, only by accident. IIRC the Fenix is using custom LVars for everything. 
Look for AAO downloads that have scriptfiles in them. They can be for any device, the scripts are usually in a separate file (=you can download a StreamDeck profile and utilize the scripts coming with it.) 

Or you do it manually:
Open this file in a text editor of your choice: \Community\fnx-aircraft-320\SimObjects\Airplanes\FNX320\model\FNX320_Interior.xml
Search for the button that you want to actuate, for example "FCU_Heading_Knob"
There are two tags designating LVars:
                <VAR_NAME>E_FCU_HEADING</VAR_NAME>
                <VAR_NAME_BUTTON>S_FCU_HEADING</VAR_NAME_BUTTON>
You would then make scripts from those
DEC
(L:E_FCU_HEADING,·Number)·--·(>L:E_FCU_HEADING,·Number)

INC
(L:E_FCU_HEADING,·Number)·++·(>L:E_FCU_HEADING,·Number)

Push
(L:S_FCU_HEADING,·Number)·--·(>L:S_FCU_HEADING,·Number)

Pull
(L:S_FCU_HEADING,·Number)·++·(>L:S_FCU_HEADING,·Number)

Be aware though that the Fenix doesn't reveal any data from the AP. You will not be able to display selected speed, altitude, heading or VS. Their entire logic is running externally, bypassing all simulator variables. Fenix would have to create extra vars for this purpose, and TMBK they haven't. 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Lorby_SI

[VFRHawk 16]

Thanks for the reply Oliver.

Any idea how LINDA gets those variables for speed, altitude, heading or VS?  Is that via a method you don't have access to?

 

 

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

2 minutes ago, VFRHawk said:

Thanks for the reply Oliver.

Any idea how LINDA gets those variables for speed, altitude, heading or VS?  Is that via a method you don't have access to?

 

 

Sorry, no. But I haven't looked at the Fenix for a long time either.

If they are simulator variables, AAO can use them too. If there is a separate access, like an API or something in the Fenix software, then it can't.

Edited October 16, 2022 by Lorby_SI

[VFRHawk 16]

OK, so I've bought AAO, and grabbed Guenseli's Streamdeck scripts off of flightsim.to.  That's got 90% of the buttons and all the rotaries working I think. - now I've assigned everything to the right event for the right buttons and rotaries etc anyway.

However, it has a single BARO_MODE_TOGGLE, and that just swaps the baro from InHG to HPa and back again:

(L:S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE,·number)·!·(>L:S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE,·number)

However the airbus version of the VRI Combo has a switch with one side explicitly InHG and the other HPa.

Tracking the variable S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE above as I change the switch in the sim shows that InHg has a value of 0, and HPa has a value of 1.

So I'm trying to amend the script from just toggling between the setting to assigning an absolute value.  I'll then have 2 scripts - one for InHg and one for HPA and assign one to each event in AAO.

However I'm not getting anywhere with something as simple sounding as assigning a value to that variable.  My latest attempt is:

(L:S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE,·number)·0·(L:S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE,·number)

to assign it to InHg, but that doesn't seem to work?

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

22 minutes ago, VFRHawk said:

assigning a value to that variable. 

Script 1:
0·(>L:S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE,·Number)

Script 2:
1·(>L:S_FCU_EFIS1_BARO_MODE,·Number)

 

(L:, (A:, are the "getters" in RPN
(>L:, (>A:, (>K:; (>H: are the "setters"

What your first toggle script does is, it reads the variable value, then it negates it with the ! operator, then it writes it back into the variable. There is a chapter about RPN scripting in the AAO manual with lists of all available RPN operators and special AAO commands.
There is also some information in the MSFS SDK documentation, but be mindful that most of the variable types mentioned there are for using them in the simulator itself, not in AAO. AAO can only deal with L, A, H, K, P, E and, through the mapping feature, B Vars.
Reverse Polish Notation (flightsimulator.com)

Edited October 17, 2022 by Lorby_SI

[VFRHawk 16]

Me again!  🙂

OK, I've got 90% of this panel sorted the way I want it.  What I can't make work the way I want them to is the landing lights.  I want one button to first extend both, then next press turns them on, then next retracts them, then fully off.

Variables are:

S_OH_EXT_LT_LANDING_R

S_OH_EXT_LT_LANDING_L

Value of 0 is Off and retracted, 1 is extended but off, 2 is extended and on.  So I want each button press to go through the sequence of 0 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 0?

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

23 minutes ago, VFRHawk said:

So I want each button press to go through the sequence of 0 - 1 - 2 - 1 - 0?

Write a script that does it? Parametrized, so you only need the one.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Lorby_SI

[VFRHawk 16]

Yeah, creating the script was the bit I was struggling with!  🙂

 

 

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

A while ago I made a pattern for that kind of thing, so it can be re-used for anything.

Script Title: Lvar_0_1_2_1_0
Script Group: Pattern
Script Code: (param1) s0 (param2) s1 l0 0 == if{ l1 0 == if{ 1 s2 } els{ 1 s2 } 0 s1 } l0 1 == if{ l1 0 == if{ 2 s2 } els{ 0 s2 } } l0 2 == if{ l1 0 == if{ 1 s2 } els{ 1 s2 } 1 s1 } l2 (>param1) l1 (>param2)

Calling the script from another script:
1 (>K:Pattern-Lvar_0_1_2_1_0;L:S_OH_EXT_LT_LANDING_R, Number;L:SwitchLTRDir)
and
1 (>K:Pattern-Lvar_0_1_2_1_0;L:S_OH_EXT_LT_LANDING_L, Number;L:SwitchLTLDir)

When you use it for other things, make sure that each has a different ...Dir variable name. Doesn't have to be fancy, just different, so they don't intefere with each other.

To get it off my chest - getting scripts written for you is generally not covered by the sales price of AAO. Admitteldy my solution is quite "optimized" if you want to call it that. I think that you could at least ask nicely instead of simply going "I want" and thorwing the bits and pieces into the mix. Just saying.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Lorby_SI

[VFRHawk 16]

Sorry wasn't trying to be cheeky, just can't get my head around this stuff.

I'll stop asking.

[Lorby_SI 2,038]

2 hours ago, VFRHawk said:

Sorry wasn't trying to be cheeky, just can't get my head around this stuff.

I'll stop asking.

What I want is a dialog. And the occasional "please" or "thank you" would be appreciated. I need to know what you have tried and how you tried it. Then I can see where you went wrong and actually explain how things work. The goal is that you can understand it too - which is very important. That is a complex hardware setup that you have there, and MSFS is in constant development. Meaning, things change and I think that you will definitely need that skill in the future. And on the other hand I get information about possible shortcomings in the AAO documentation and if or how the manual can be improved.

Edited October 20, 2022 by Lorby_SI

[VFRHawk 16]

I think I've done as much with it as I can now - most of the buttons work as I want them to, and I have all the data displays showing the correct data bar the VS one - that works but it just doesn't accommodate MSFS timing out and resetting it to zero on occasion - so I'm going to do a few more flights with it to ensure I've not missed anything (I found my options for starting the  APU were only lighting the buttons up rather than actually actuating them last night, so I've fixed that now) then I'll send it over to Guenseli to see if he'd like to update his download on flightsim.to to include it.

It's based entirely on his and your work Oliver, so I'm not bothered to publish it and take the credit.  There are some scripts that run every 50ms so I'll have to work out how to include those.

Thank you very much for all your help, and for making AAO in the first place.

Graham