Hello! I've recently started the trial period for this program, so far I'm really enjoying it! However, I've noticed that after I import data collected by MakeRwys into the program, the controllers will soon completely cease to respond. It has happened twice so far, and both times, it has been immediately prior to the approach phase of flight. From my experience so far, it seems that attempting to perform an approach into any airport that has had MakeRwys data imported into it will kill the controllers' ability to understand me. To clarify, once this happens, it effects all controllers. It can be temporarily fixed by reconnecting to the sim, however I noticed that attempting to file the same flight plan again immediately recreates the issue.

The first time I experienced this, I took off from KBMG, flying a VFR route to KIND. At this point, all airports had been imported from MakeRwys. I was able to receive IFR clearance, taxi to the runway, and take off, all without trouble. However, sometime between the clearance to change frequency from KBMG, and the switch to the tower frequency at KIND, the program stopped responding to my requests. No green text would appear in the log. Strangely, everything else I checked suggested that everything was fine. The Grammar Help page was able to understand me flawlessly, the problem persisted regardless of if I was pressing the PTT button in the app or the configured button on my yoke, etc. Despite that, no matter what controller I tuned, and no matter what request I made or how clearly I spoke, no recognition, no response from ATC.

The next flight I tried was again out of KBMG. By this point, my computer had been fully restarted. This time, none of the controllers responded from the beginning. Clearance delivery, ground, tower, all dead silent. I finally decided to try replacing the P2ABaseData file with a copy from a fresh installation, which instantly fixed the problem. I tested by again importing everything from MakeRwys, and again, all controllers ceased to respond.

The second time this happened, I was flying IFR from RKSS to RJFM. This time, I had not imported all taxiway/gate data. RKSS's data had been loaded from a file obtained from flightsim.to, and RJFM was imported from MakeRwys. Just like the first time, I got through most of the flight without failure, but the instant I got within range of RJFM, the controllers stopped responding. Same issue as before.

This is particularly irritating, as there are severe issues with the default taxiway data at some of the airports I frequent. KORD is wrong in several ways (taxiways are mis-named, completely fictional taxiways, etc). Often the controllers wont be able to route you correctly from parking to the runway in KIND. Most importantly, my home airport, KBMG, literally has no taxiways according to the default database. Being unable to fix this without manually going in and editing each and every taxiway is a huge pain.

I don't know what information or files might be needed to help me troubleshoot this, so please request anything you might need.

Importing Taxi and Gate data should have no effect on controller interaction, unless the P2ABaseData.mdf file has become corrupted, but then it would be causing a problem right from the start.

Since you're on the trial, I assume you are using the latest version 2.7.0.0.  If not, then doing so might fix your issues.

Otherwise, please email the P2A log file to [email protected] and I'll see if I can figure out what's causing this.   

P2A Log files are located in: 
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\P2A_200\Logs 
where <UserName> is your PC user name. 
Portions of the path may be hidden by default, so be sure Windows Explorer has Show Hidden Items checked in the View tab.
A new one is created each time you start Pilot2ATC, and is closed when you shut it down. So if you take the most recent one after you have the error and after you shut down P2A, you should have the correct one.   

Dave
 

Okay, so with the knowledge of the logs in mind, I attempted to recreate the conditions that originally caused the issue. Sure enough, the moment I received clearance from tower to change frequency, all controllers stopped responding. This begins at 04:36:50 in the logs. Unlike the first time, I kept persisting with my attempts at communication long after the issue started, testing as many controllers and requests as possible. Eventually, I had the thought to try using the SayIt function to make my request. The first one or two attempts at this were equally ineffective, but the third one actually went through shortly before reaching KIND. I have no clue if the SayIt was what fixed it or if it was just coincidental timing, but this "woke up" the controllers again, and suddenly I was inundated with responses to every single request I had made up until that point. After the 5-10 minutes of "altimeter is X, altimeter is X...", I was able to complete my flight normally after that.

Looking at the logs, the space between the lost communications and the moment communication resumes is filled with errors. The first error occurs at (after?) 04:37:05, and goes as follows.
 

Quote

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at P2A2021.ATC.AssignCenterController(Airport Apt)
   at P2A2021.Controller.cc83c9bfec20b99f45c8a3e8ecca5abd0(String& c10d14a58376e8a5fedf6f0955109c8c6, SpeechInteraction c9408508583fe6860a9cb8bcb2e3c1245, String& c2d61cf92c662496fc273eb7fc03570f3)
   at P2A2021.Controller.c147faef1bcd580d0a7fc61b69bcb5dc1(String& c10d14a58376e8a5fedf6f0955109c8c6, SpeechInteraction c9408508583fe6860a9cb8bcb2e3c1245, String& c2d61cf92c662496fc273eb7fc03570f3)
   at P2A2021.Controller.RespondToPilot(SpeechInteraction SI)
   at P2A2021.ATCListener.HandleRecognizedSpeech(Boolean SpeechEmulated)
   at P2A2021.ATCListener.c7b7d03cbc0273bf9bce3de3da18fdbed(Object cb25b07786a6e786dea76cf87175f59f0, RecognizeCompletedEventArgs cb4d4bf05d278f00a41fc902f6c5d26a2)
   at System.Speech.Recognition.SpeechRecognitionEngine.RecognizeCompletedProxy(Object sender, RecognizeCompletedEventArgs e)

Similar errors to this are made in multiple places after, differing in the methods that produce it but always the same error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

I also made an attempt at around 04:43:46 to use the Grammar Help page to verify speech detection was functional. As before, it was flawless. Looking at the logs, however, I can see an error that may or may not be relevant.
 

Quote

Pilot2ATC_2021.exe    Information    0    SAPI does not implement phonetic alphabet selection.       at System.Environment.GetStackTrace(Exception e, Boolean needFileInfo)
   at System.Environment.get_StackTrace()
   at System.Diagnostics.TraceEventCache.get_Callstack()
   at Microsoft.VisualBasic.Logging.FileLogTraceListener.TraceEvent(TraceEventCache eventCache, String source, TraceEventType eventType, Int32 id, String message)
   at System.Diagnostics.TraceInternal.TraceEvent(TraceEventType eventType, Int32 id, String format, Object[] args)
   at System.Speech.Recognition.RecognizerBase.Initialize(SapiRecognizer recognizer, Boolean inproc)
   at System.Speech.Recognition.SpeechRecognitionEngine.get_RecoBase()
   at P2A2021.frmGrammarHelper.LoadPilotGrammar()
   at P2A2021.frmGrammarHelper.cdbc7f2378dfec6bd82b80dc6b188458e(Object cb25b07786a6e786dea76cf87175f59f0, EventArgs cb4d4bf05d278f00a41fc902f6c5d26a2)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mevent)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ButtonBase.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg)
   at System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessageW(MSG& msg)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ComponentManager.System.Windows.Forms.UnsafeNativeMethods.IMsoComponentManager.FPushMessageLoop(IntPtr dwComponentID, Int32 reason, Int32 pvLoopData)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
   at A.cbfc2d4b1897f721a06d50ef1eb1d7e85.c39e4a2c7012e9e0ba9055469c605637a()    ""    8392    1    8209707712008

 

The full log can be found here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_zgjFnCGBhOvnOI9Zb3mwZHMfg4z2dkp/view?usp=sharing

There is a bug in the Assign Center Controller logic.  This will be fixed in the next beta.

In the meantime, as a work-around, if you request VFR Flight Following from Tower, while on the ground, or if you File the VFR Flight plan and request VFR Clearance, you will likely avoid the bug as you will then be assigned a controller and get handoffs along the way.

Dave

Gotcha. I may need to test this further under IFR conditions as well, since the second time this happened was IFR, but I wouldn't be surprised if I did something wrong that caused the same bug to occur in IFR as well. It's also worth noting that I just completed another VFR flight (reversing the course I just did), this time with manually constructed taxiways (no imports), and the issue did not occur, so the issue does seem to be somehow tied to imported taxiways. Maybe the number of points? Or possibly the fact that none of them actually connect to the runways directly? I'm not sure how it works behind the scenes so I'm just completely speculating lol.