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Checklist cancelled, Captain


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Posted

I just got the PMDG version of MCE, and whenever I call for a checklist, the FO reads the first item, then immedately says "Checklist cancelled, captain." If I select the C in the toolbar, it'll go through everything normally with the AI voice. Not sure if there's some setting I have ticked that cancels checklists, but I can't get through one.

Thanks

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Posted
6 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

I just got the PMDG version of MCE, and whenever I call for a checklist, the FO reads the first item, then immedately says "Checklist cancelled, captain." If I select the C in the toolbar, it'll go through everything normally with the AI voice. Not sure if there's some setting I have ticked that cancels checklists, but I can't get through one.

Thanks

No worries.

Just be aware, when you click C button to trigger checklist in button mode, clicking a second time would cancel reading (same with the flows F button). And if you associated a joystick button to that function, the joystick button when pressed accidentally would act as if you pressed "C".

That also means, if you start a checklist reading session via voice, leave the C button alone and if you have to, cancel with "cancel checklist" which requires a prompt.

There are no prompts for confirmation for anything that is assumed to be button control.

It will be checked nevertheless.

UPDATE: I can confirm the issue. Thank you for reporting it.

Colleague is already on it and a replacement file "mce.exe" will be available in a few hours.

 

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Posted
12 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

I just got the PMDG version of MCE, and whenever I call for a checklist, the FO reads the first item, then immedately says "Checklist cancelled, captain." If I select the C in the toolbar, it'll go through everything normally with the AI voice. Not sure if there's some setting I have ticked that cancels checklists, but I can't get through one.

Thanks

There you go. Download hotfix and manually replace "mce.exe" inside \Multi Crew PMDG 737\ installation folder

http://www.multicrewxp.com/Hotfix-McePmdg737-Edition.zip

If link not accessible from forum, copy the line above and paste it to your browser.

 

Posted

great to hear, thank you! I loved this program in X-Plane and P3D. I'm a bit rusty though. I'd like to setup flows, checklists, and call outs that my company uses to prepare for my type and type ride.

 

When creating a checklist, (it's already mostly the same), how can I get Captain responds vs FO responds vs both respond? i.e.

Oxygen -- Tested, 100% C/FO (both respond)

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Posted
15 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

great to hear, thank you! I loved this program in X-Plane and P3D. I'm a bit rusty though. I'd like to setup flows, checklists, and call outs that my company uses to prepare for my type and type ride.

 

When creating a checklist, (it's already mostly the same), how can I get Captain responds vs FO responds vs both respond? i.e.

Oxygen -- Tested, 100% C/FO (both respond)

Add markers to each line

No marker: Pilot flying  is expected to reply

2: FO replies only

3: Both FO and Captain reply

Oxygen -- Tested, 100%     //3

 

Posted

I'm now having an issue where some of the commands do not work as you can see in the picture. This has happened with more than a few different commands...they're the ones that shipped with the product as well.

 

spacer.png

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Posted
41 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

I'm now having an issue where some of the commands do not work as you can see in the picture. This has happened with more than a few different commands...they're the ones that shipped with the product as well.

 

spacer.png

Could be a typo in the command.

When the command is simulated via the <Test> button it needs to be written exactly as in the speech grammar, including lower case and such.

A word in plural like "brakes" instead of "break" can cause the command not to be recognized. That's when you get the red text asking you to check for typos and such. Not always because the command doesn't exit.

For instance, if you speak "set parking brake".or "set parking brakes" speech engine might accept both because it would detect the closer "set parking brake" built-in command in either case.

But if you type the 2 slightly different commands, if I'm not mistaken "set parking brakes" could be rejected because of the "s" at the end. Same can happen with "brake" versus "break".

It's not unusual for us to actually have a list where there are such errors.

The words come from a "available_commands.dat" file (just a text file) found in <PMDG 737 MSFS> script folder.

It susually happens when we discover that some commands aren't accounted for and they get added quickly and without always checking them using that screen.

Try re-wording the command (there are other variations than the ones listed)

Also try speaking the command to see if it exists.

If it doesn't, let me know and I'll show you how to "educate" your FO to understand any natural speech you can come up with, so that you won't have to memorize a command that doesn't flow to your head immediately.

Posted

Well, this was for a flow, not to be commanded through speech. I found the .bat of available commands, but it doesn’t register. I tried “testing” the action as well, but it won’t, and the red text at the top of the screen appears. It happens with all CDU commands, as well as the ignition selector. I’m sure there are others I may have forgotten, and I haven’t gotten that far through the FCOM yet. 

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Posted
4 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

Well, this was for a flow, not to be commanded through speech. I found the .bat of available commands, but it doesn’t register. I tried “testing” the action as well, but it won’t, and the red text at the top of the screen appears. It happens with all CDU commands, as well as the ignition selector. I’m sure there are others I may have forgotten, and I haven’t gotten that far through the FCOM yet. 

Ah OK.

Will be looked at.

Update: Turned out, the CDU specific commands weren't enabled for this product. They are now. Just redownload the patch to get the updated file. 

MCE does enable/disable a bunch of commands depending on which plane it is dealing with. It's not like it wasn't aware of PMDG 737 needing those. More like, because this product is a cut down version of the other one that supports many planes in MSFS, there are conditional compilation options of the same exe file that go like "if it's compiled  for X Edition, exclude all these sections of code. And that's how the CDU commands were accidentally culled.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Package on Simmarket just updated, so won't need the patch after that. Unless there are more Gremlins 😛

 

Posted

Here are some commands that don't appear exist on their own--

-Engine 1 starter to ground
-Engine 2 starter to ground
-Flight Control B guard close
-Set transponder ALT reporting OFF (so they select XPNDR/mode C for taxiing)

Is it possible to set conditional settings such as:
-When Center tank has more than 1000 lbs, turn on both Center tank pumps
-When freezing conditions exist with visible moisture/snow/rain, turning on engine and wing anti ice after engine start
-Blank the lower EICAS after flight control check


Ideally, I'd like to set up

"Start Engine 2"
The FO will:
-Packs OFF
-Verify duct pressure
-Start timer
-Engine 2 starter to Ground
      - I will introduce fuel at 25%
When the engine is within normal start parameters and the EGT start limit disappears, the FO will reset their timer and announce "Normal Start". As it is, the FO is Verbose with everything, is there a way to change this?


Starting Engine 1 would be the same, except after the FO announces Normal start, he can immediately jump into his after start flow.

Perhaps, announcing the start sequence ahead of time could mitigate the need for separate scripts.

I'd also create a script for a single engine taxi on engine 1 or 2 by announcing "Start engine X for a single engine taxi" which will get the FO to jump into their after start flow upon a normal start of the selected engine. When taxiing out, I could have the script say something like "start engine 1 for takeoff" or something like that.

ALSO

is it possible to trigger a flow by calling for a checklist? i.e. the shut down checklist -- I'll shut down the engines, then call for the checklist and the FO will do their items and then read the checklist.

 

Thanks

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Posted
8 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

Here are some commands that don't appear exist on their own--

If you are editing flows in Notepad, be aware, you need to type "two" instead of "2" and everything must be in lower case.

-Set transponder ALT reporting OFF (so they select XPNDR/mode C for taxiing)

There is no built-in command for this. Will need to be created and Fo taught how to handle it.

-Engine 1 starter to ground        (you could use "start switch engine one to ground" or "start switch one to ground")
-Engine 2 starter to ground        (you could use "start switch engine two to ground" or "start switch two set to ground")
-Flight Control B guard close     (you could use "flight control b guard closed". For this command. Just grab the updated patch which has updated grammar files to replace those in <CandC> folder. It covers both "closed" and "close" as variations so that the command doesn't fail when it's part of a scripted flow. 

Now, if you need to be able to use "engine one starter to ground" as a direct voice command and have the FO understand it as the other built-in command, here is how to proceed. The following applies to any command that comes to your head intuitively. It can even be in ANY language not just English.

The speech engine only cares about phonetics.

Go to "Command" and in MCE UI and click <Voxscript> button

Click <New> button and type whatever command you want to use (in this case "engine one starter"). It doesn't even need to refer to the specific items. Even a meaningless "scooby ding dang dong" will do.

The custom command will be listed. At this stage MCE will tell the speech engine to recognize it but FO still has no idea how to handle it.

Select the new command and click <Edit>. In next screen, enable "verbose" option so you can hear when the Fo handles it, then click <Edit script commands".

In next panel, unlike with creating a flow which would involve many simulated commands put in a specific sequence, in this case you would be using Voxscript as a translator, therefore just need to add a single built-in command.

Click <Command> button and add the built-in command is trained to handle. In this case "start switch one to ground". Do not forget to save.

That's it, from then on, when you make a noise that closely resembles what you have written, MCE will handle it as if you have spoken the built-in command it was tied to.


Is it possible to set conditional settings such as:
-When Center tank has more than 1000 lbs, turn on both Center tank pumps

This is already implemented in the PMDG specific edition. MCE has always fetched the fuel quantity from the sim itself for any aircraft and this has always worked even with the PMDG planes. Noticed recently that reading those values are a bit erratic in MSFS (at least with PMDG). Therefore, sometimes FO can see the center tank has some fuel, other times he might think they are empty and won't switch the center tank pumps.

Luckily, now that PMDG has enabled full use of SDK, it is possible to read the tank quantity using it. So it's just a matter changing that.

-When freezing conditions exist with visible moisture/snow/rain, turning on engine and wing anti ice after engine start

I'm afraid, cannot be reliably used as the assumption about "freezing conditions" aren't defined with exact values. You can always add a custom flow triggered with a sentence like "let's prepare for adverse weather operation" or anything you want, then have commands to switch AI as you see fit.

-Blank the lower EICAS after flight control check


The SDK doesn't let you read the state of the screen, therefore it can only work if you make assumptions like captain not touching it, start in cold and dark, etc..We'll pass on that

Ideally, I'd like to set up

"Start Engine 2"
The FO will:
-Packs OFF
-Verify duct pressure
-Start timer
-Engine 2 starter to Ground
      - I will introduce fuel at 25%
When the engine is within normal start parameters and the EGT start limit disappears, the FO will reset their timer and announce "Normal Start". As it is, the FO is Verbose with everything, is there a way to change this?

Can do. Only snag, "start engine one" and "start engine two" are built-in commands and always take precedence over similarly worded speech commands. We cannot change them as they are widely used.

You can make it happen if you create custom commands that are off by at least one character. Something like "ok start engine two". In which case MCE will trigger the custom flow. But FO won't be monitoring because that is done via a worker background thread which only kicks in when the built-in command for engine start is used.

Your custom flow may look like this

both packs off

apu bleed on

isolation valve to auto.

start timing

start switch two set to ground

Notify=write_whatever_you want_Fo_ to_say_here  (you don't have to use this)

pause=40    (put a pause long enough that would assume you already opened the fuel lever.

... add whatever you like here.


Starting Engine 1 would be the same, except after the FO announces Normal start, he can immediately jump into his after start flow.

Try adding trigger sentence for the next flow to the custom flow related to engine one start. Right at the end. Not sure if it will work as by design, MCE won't normally allow a flow to be called from another flow. Exception is those "aliased commands flows" (those that have a single command)

Perhaps, announcing the start sequence ahead of time could mitigate the need for separate scripts.

I'd also create a script for a single engine taxi on engine 1 or 2 by announcing "Start engine X for a single engine taxi" which will get the FO to jump into their after start flow upon a normal start of the selected engine. When taxiing out, I could have the script say something like "start engine 1 for takeoff" or something like that.

Feel free to be crative.

ALSO

is it possible to trigger a flow by calling for a checklist? i.e. the shut down checklist -- I'll shut down the engines, then call for the checklist and the FO will do their items and then read the checklist.

You can automatiocally call a checklist from a flow by adding the speech command that triggers a particular checklist section to the end of the flow.

 

Thanks

You're welcome.

I am detailing this for other users as well. Many wrongly assume Voxscript involves programming (because of the "script" word). It's really just putting a few built-in sentencs in a specific sequence. Should have been named "VoxFlow", but it's too late now.🙂

And this capability (built-in speech simulator) doesn't exist in any other speech based add-on for flight simulator. It's not something you can craft in a couple of years and expect to be 100% reliable. Lots of groing pains, constant fiddling by gradually taking user feedback and making adjustments here and there over a decade. 

 

 

Posted
2 hours ago, FS++ said:

is it possible to trigger a flow by calling for a checklist? i.e. the shut down checklist -- I'll shut down the engines, then call for the checklist and the FO will do their items and then read the checklist.

You can automatiocally call a checklist from a flow by adding the speech command that triggers a particular checklist section to the end of the flow

Thank you very much for such a detailed explanation of things. I’ll continue building my perfect FO today. 
 

I apologize for not quite understanding what you mean here. 
 

 

Also, where am I able to edit other contextual responses and phrases? 
for example, at 1000’ RA on landing, PF and PM say ‘Stable’ during landing or ‘unstable, go around’ 

On touchdown, the PM says ‘speed brakes up (or not up), reversers normal, 60 knots”

Instead of saying 1000 to go, have them say 1000 to level, etc. 

Thanks again. 

PS:

This makes so much sense now! I kept trying to find the commands from the drop down list....I had no idea you can just type them in! Oh this will be so much easier now!spacer.png

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  • Commercial Member
Posted
5 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

I apologize for not quite understanding what you mean here. 

In the shutdown flow, add line "shutdown checklist" so that when the FO is done with the flow he'll automatically ask himself to start reading that specific section.

Also, where am I able to edit other contextual responses and phrases? 
for example, at 1000’ RA on landing, PF and PM say ‘Stable’ during landing or ‘unstable, go around’ 

These are hard coded and adjusted to specific planes. All Airbuses have a 100 knot callout on takeoff, Boeings 80 knots.

The "stable" or lack of, you would only get if you enable "nagging". Some prefer not to because they don't want the Fo to be too critical.

On touchdown, the PM says ‘speed brakes up (or not up), reversers normal, 60 knots”

These are there as well as part of the callouts & monitoring feature.

Instead of saying 1000 to go, have them say 1000 to level, etc. 

I guess we could have an option for that. It will take a while because it would distract from other more pressing things. If not added by Decembe, remind me about it.

 

 

Posted

I'm not sure how much work it would be, but I'd love to be able to adjust call-outs.

If I could go digging around and edit these parameters please let me know where to look.

For instance, at our company we have:

At 60 knots the PM says "Thrust set"

At positive climb indication: Positive Rate

At V2: No call

At 10,000: the PM says "10,000" this is for climb and descent

At 18,000 (in the US): PM says "Transition" for climb and descent - would be neat to change it, or preset it for your departure and destination, or just read it from the FMC

At 1,000' RA: PF states stable, PM states stable. Although this is a PF to PM challenge, the counter to that response is "Unstable, go around." It'd be neat for the PM to detect a stable approach (flaps set, on speed, descent rate <1000FPM, etc)

 

Going back to the engine start, I've been able to "fake" everything by adding a delay of 60 seconds after the action of putting the starter to ground....however, our FOs say "starter cut-out" just like your hard programed one does. I'd love to keep your automatic start, but make some tweaks to it. For example, Have the ability to say "Start engine number 2" with the response "starting 2 --silence, starter cut out -- normal start." In other words, not reading the engine start parameters out loud. I'm building emergency procedures as well, so for this example, if we have an impending hot start, or a hung start, I can say something like "engine 2 aborted start immediate action items." I'll place the fuel control switch to cutoff, and then the rest of the start sequence calls are cancelled while the FO reads the emergency checklist without overlapping calls from the normal start.

 

This program is awesome, I'd just like to have a bit more control over phraseology and differing conditions, since I'm (and probably others) am using this to train and practice.

 

 

AMD 7950X3D | 64 GB RAM | RTX 4090

B737 Pilot

 

Posted

I'm also trying to create a script for takeoff where I say "set speed, climb thrust." The climb thrust part works, but I can't get the FO to input a pre-desired speed. Ideally, when I say "set speed, climb thrust" the FO would set the speed bug to the "UP" bug, then select climb thrust...but since the latter isn't possible (i don't think) I'd just like them to set 220 knots, then select climb thrust with this command. Unfortunately, when I spell it out in the VoxScript, it doesn't take. See the picture:

unknown.png

AMD 7950X3D | 64 GB RAM | RTX 4090

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