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  • Commercial Member
Posted
On 10/23/2024 at 7:04 PM, threexgreen said:

What are the plans on this considering the pre-release is available now?

The plane has an excellent SDK.

We already interfaced it in Prepar3D V5, so a lot of work is already done and will just require adjustment to MSFS interfacing.

It's already works in progress and progressing nicely.

We'll probably have an early Beta by the end of next week..

  • Like 2
Posted
12 hours ago, FS++ said:

The plane has an excellent SDK.

We already interfaced it in Prepar3D V5, so a lot of work is already done and will just require adjustment to MSFS interfacing.

It's already works in progress and progressing nicely.

We'll probably have an early Beta by the end of next week..

Thanks for the work you do with MCE. Not sure what I'd do if it went away since I've have full airline specific SOPs scripted with MCE which transforms simming a lot.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1
  • Commercial Member
Posted
10 hours ago, threexgreen said:

Thanks for the work you do with MCE. Not sure what I'd do if it went away since I've have full airline specific SOPs scripted with MCE which transforms simming a lot.

You're welcome.

Always nice to hear such encouraging words.

 

  • 2 weeks later...
  • Commercial Member
Posted (edited)

NOTAM

The first package that gets the co-pilot and the rest of the crew fully operational on iFly 737MAX in MSFS is now ready for download. Please request the link via e-mail to support. Only available to Multi Crew Ultimate Edition registered users right now.

In this case, the patch won't do. Latest is V3.1.0.6 and requires full install.

Request link from [email protected]

 

Edited by FS++
  • Like 2
Posted (edited)
On 11/8/2024 at 11:52 AM, FS++ said:

NOTAM

The first package that gets the co-pilot and the rest of the crew fully operational on iFly 737MAX in MSFS is now ready for download. Please request the link via e-mail to support. Only available to Multi Crew Ultimate Edition registered users right now.

In this case, the patch won't do. Latest is V3.1.0.6 and requires full install.

Request link from [email protected]

 

Thanks for the update!  I've taken MCE for a quick test flight in the iFly, and can report a couple things (I'll add more as I remember them or see them on subsequent flights):

1.  Engine start - the FO does not handle this well, as he doesn't account for the bowed rotor motoring required with the Leap engines.  MCE moves the start lever to idle to introduce fuel while the start sequence is still in the Motoring phase, which is a no no.  It angered the EEC (FADEC), and the engine started abnormally, momentarily showing an Engine Failure inscription, but it did start... But MCE should wait until motoring is complete to introduce fuel.  It'll be difficult to do this via time, as the motoring time is dependent on how warm the engine is when started (it occurs for a fixed time right now on the iFly but it's being changed to a dynamic schedule dependent on conditions in an upcoming update).  If you can read N2 value, that would work: motoring usually occurs at 19-21% N2, then the engine accelerates to its normal value of around 25% when motoring is complete.  So if you could introduce fuel at around 24% N2, that would be ideal.

2.  Landing lights aren't handled well, probably because of the three position on/pulse/off option. 

3.  Unsure if this is iFly specific or an option in MCE I'm not familiar with, though I've not seen it on the PMDG - when configuring for landing, when I commanded flap extension to every value beyond 1, MCE repeated my command (so it understood me), but then asked me to verify the setting.  I would just say "yes", and then the correct flap setting would be selected.  So it all worked correctly, I'm just not sure why verification was required every time.  Is there a way to disable that? 

Overall though, it's working pretty well and it's really nice to have MCE in the new 737, thanks 👍.

Edited by Stearmandriver
  • Like 1

Andrew Crowley

Posted
6 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

3.  Unsure if this is iFly specific or an option in MCE I'm not familiar with, though I've not seen it on the PMDG - when configuring for landing, when I commanded flap extension to every value beyond 1, MCE repeated my command (so it understood me), but then asked me to verify the setting.  I would just say "yes", and then the correct flap setting would be selected.  So it all worked correctly, I'm just not sure why verification was required every time.  Is there a way to disable that? 

This was the same for the PMDG 777 initially. It happens when MCE can't read the current flap position to verify the command, so it asks for confirmation to avoid setting flaps the wrong way. I'm sure that will be fixed like with the 777.

  • Like 2
  • Commercial Member
Posted
On 11/14/2024 at 11:36 AM, Stearmandriver said:

Thanks for the update!  I've taken MCE for a quick test flight in the iFly, and can report a couple things (I'll add more as I remember them or see them on subsequent flights):

1.  Engine start - the FO does not handle this well, as he doesn't account for the bowed rotor motoring required with the Leap engines.  MCE moves the start lever to idle to introduce fuel while the start sequence is still in the Motoring phase, which is a no no.  It angered the EEC (FADEC), and the engine started abnormally, momentarily showing an Engine Failure inscription, but it did start... But MCE should wait until motoring is complete to introduce fuel.  It'll be difficult to do this via time, as the motoring time is dependent on how warm the engine is when started (it occurs for a fixed time right now on the iFly but it's being changed to a dynamic schedule dependent on conditions in an upcoming update).  If you can read N2 value, that would work: motoring usually occurs at 19-21% N2, then the engine accelerates to its normal value of around 25% when motoring is complete.  So if you could introduce fuel at around 24% N2, that would be ideal.

2.  Landing lights aren't handled well, probably because of the three position on/pulse/off option. 

3.  Unsure if this is iFly specific or an option in MCE I'm not familiar with, though I've not seen it on the PMDG - when configuring for landing, when I commanded flap extension to every value beyond 1, MCE repeated my command (so it understood me), but then asked me to verify the setting.  I would just say "yes", and then the correct flap setting would be selected.  So it all worked correctly, I'm just not sure why verification was required every time.  Is there a way to disable that? 

Overall though, it's working pretty well and it's really nice to have MCE in the new 737, thanks 👍.

Thanks for the insight into the LEAP engine.

1. Adjustments were made and should work better now. May need further tweaking. One observation though, it seems the N2 value showing on EICAS is about 2 to 3 % behind actual value read by MCE from the sim via Simconnect. FO will now hold off opening lever for 15+ seconds after reading 24%+

Lower wait delays occasionally got brief "ENG FAIL" messages.

2. Not sure about this as MCE it has been tested with the default landing lights (2 switches only with 3 positions). If you using different landing lights, please direct me to which livery or iFly setting that would show those lights. Thanks

3. FO now reads flaps lever correctly so won't bother you with prompts to confirm.

The prompts feature were intended to prevent co-pilot say move flaps from 1 to 25 without warning. If you skip one detent he'll see that as normal. If it's 2 or more he'll assume it's unusual and could be a case of speech engine hearing the wrong value and he'll want confirmation first.

 Get the patch and manually replace 2 files inside installation folder.

 

Posted
9 hours ago, FS++ said:

Thanks for the insight into the LEAP engine.

1. Adjustments were made and should work better now. May need further tweaking. One observation though, it seems the N2 value showing on EICAS is about 2 to 3 % behind actual value read by MCE from the sim via Simconnect. FO will now hold off opening lever for 15+ seconds after reading 24%+

Lower wait delays occasionally got brief "ENG FAIL" messages.

2. Not sure about this as MCE it has been tested with the default landing lights (2 switches only with 3 positions). If you using different landing lights, please direct me to which livery or iFly setting that would show those lights. Thanks

3. FO now reads flaps lever correctly so won't bother you with prompts to confirm.

The prompts feature were intended to prevent co-pilot say move flaps from 1 to 25 without warning. If you skip one detent he'll see that as normal. If it's 2 or more he'll assume it's unusual and could be a case of speech engine hearing the wrong value and he'll want confirmation first.

 Get the patch and manually replace 2 files inside installation folder.

 

Had a quick try tonight.  Flap selection works well now; makes sense why the program would want to double check a flap setting that seemed nonstandard, but yep, seems to work now 👍.

Engine start - MCE still moved the start lever to idle before motoring was complete; the engine was stabilized at 21% N2 while motoring was occurring.  So, not sure if MCE didn't behave as expected, or if the iFly is mis-reporting N2 value through sim connect.

Andrew Crowley

  • Commercial Member
Posted
16 hours ago, Stearmandriver said:

Had a quick try tonight.  Flap selection works well now; makes sense why the program would want to double check a flap setting that seemed nonstandard, but yep, seems to work now 👍.

Engine start - MCE still moved the start lever to idle before motoring was complete; the engine was stabilized at 21% N2 while motoring was occurring.  So, not sure if MCE didn't behave as expected, or if the iFly is mis-reporting N2 value through sim connect.

I think will have to look at the other LEAP variants.

Only tested the default one and never got "displayed N2" to show higher than 22.4 at sea level and ISO temp when fuel lever was kept off. The read N2 from the sim was above 24 though.

Every plane does its own thing. They may have their own internal engine N1 & N2 as I doubt they use Simconnect for that.

 

  • Like 1
Posted
35 minutes ago, FS++ said:

I think will have to look at the other LEAP variants.

Only tested the default one and never got "displayed N2" to show higher than 22.4 at sea level and ISO temp when fuel lever was kept off. The read N2 from the sim was above 24 though.

Every plane does its own thing. They may have their own internal engine N1 & N2 as I doubt they use Simconnect for that.

 

Yeah I can see the problem.  Another option would be, if the N2 values are reported incorrectly but the trend is correct (N2 accelerating when the in-sim aircraft shows acceleration, stable when stable in-sim etc), you could use the second stabilization of N2 as the indication motoring has finished.  What will happen is, the N2 will rise and stabilize somewhere between 19-23% (that's a large possible range but the stabilization will remain within a couple tenths of a percent N2 for several seconds), then accelerate again and stabilize at 25%.  So if you could programmatically recognize the second acceleration/stabilization, that would be a solid indication to introduce fuel. 

Unsure how difficult that would be, just tossing out ideas.

Andrew Crowley

  • Commercial Member
Posted
On 11/18/2024 at 12:57 AM, Stearmandriver said:

Yeah I can see the problem.  Another option would be, if the N2 values are reported incorrectly but the trend is correct (N2 accelerating when the in-sim aircraft shows acceleration, stable when stable in-sim etc), you could use the second stabilization of N2 as the indication motoring has finished.  What will happen is, the N2 will rise and stabilize somewhere between 19-23% (that's a large possible range but the stabilization will remain within a couple tenths of a percent N2 for several seconds), then accelerate again and stabilize at 25%.  So if you could programmatically recognize the second acceleration/stabilization, that would be a solid indication to introduce fuel. 

Unsure how difficult that would be, just tossing out ideas.

Makes sense.

Turns out the N2 read from the sim is way off what is displayed. At 22.4 displayed it reads 24, but for higher values like 59.9 it reads above 100.

At least the trend is OK, so can notice the acceleration.

Luckily, there is a custom variable not in SDK that can be tapped into and appears to give the FO a hint.

Changes have been made. Just re-download the updated patch and replace all files as per folder structure.

Did numerous starts on all LEAP variants and so far hasn't failed, but who knows whether it needs to be tweaked further.

Landing lights now sorted and can even be commanded to pulse (flash). Need to replace files in CandC folder as well

landing lights to pulse

landing lights set to flash.

If you go into Voxscript, "Script commands" panel, you should see a list-box containing many of the speech commands you could instruct the FO with (not all of them are listed, nor the dialing type of commands.

When tested in the UI they always execute. When spoken, depending on context, FO will eventually ask you to confirm before making a critical switching.

If there is anything else, just report it. Thanks

Don't forget besides making custom flows, Vocscript could act as a "Translator". I mean if there is something you are eager for the FO to handle from time to time and can't be bothered to recall which speech command to use, you could teach him to accept ANY speech. See this thread

 

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