Autopilot After SIM Update 14

sg_aviation

@glideslope said in Autopilot After SIM Update 14:

My gut feeling is that the major cause is the broken sim state-saving that breaks some avionics states... but this is just a guess....

I'm not pertained by the issues and don't have a solution. However my gut feeling remains that this constant in-flight changing of devices further increases complexity and error-proneness.

My personal approach is to decide for the device to use first, set up mods accordingly and then start the session. If GNS530, remove GTN750 from community folder. If GTN750, install and add WTT mode package (it should then auto-load). I'm not relying on any panel state saving at the moment.

Regarding errors with the GNS530 recommendation is to follow the Working Title Discord, especially since apparently more aircraft than the TBM are pertained.

WizardNeedsFood

@sg_aviation

I tested your theory by disabling the PMS50 GTN750 (removing from Community folder). On first flight test the problem occurred. The flight plan did not load into the 530 and the autopilot did not work. As you've probably seen, on the WT Discord there seems to be potential consensus that this is happening only with Black Square aircraft.

I don't think that changing nav devices during flight is anything new unless Black Square are somehow doing it differently. The Just Flight Piper Arrows did this and so also does the A2A Comanche I believe.

TonyDarkZero

GNS 530 doesn’t work on some occasions since SU14

Sir_PickleRick

Hi guys! I'm having the same problem on the Analog Caravan. I also own the Bonanza and the Baron from BS. I will test them out with the 530 and see if the problem persists. I wil also test with any aircraft that uses the 530 NOT from Blacksquare.

kaptenek

Related to some WT/14 update. GPS LOI on all WT devices

Black Square

AUTOPILOT FIXED

Hello, all. I'm sorry to keep you all waiting for this solution. As this looked entirely like a problem with the WT GNS after SU14, I was waiting for a solution from Asobo/WT. I looked into the problem myself yesterday and discovered that it was actually caused by a complex interaction between the WT GNS and the TDS GTNxi 750. The TDS developer has provided a new version of his software (1.0.3.3), which can be downloaded from the TDS GPS Manager immediately.

Thank you for your patience. Please share this solution with anyone on the MSFS Official Forums or Discord who has been having this problem since SU14.

Thank you!
Nick C.

mustafa0316

Hi Nick

I'm having the same autopilot problems but I have never owned the TDS GTNxi 750. So not sure what is happening there

TonyDarkZero

Same here, no TDS GTNxi

Black Square

I was afraid you guys might say that. I knew I was jinxing myself by saying "AUTOPILOT FIXED" too. Since this is almost certainly new behavior with SU14, yet when I rolled back changes to the GNS 530, the problem persisted, it's possible that it's another conflict, just not with the TDS GTN 750. Do you guys have the PMS50 GTN installed? Perhaps you haven't updated it in a while, and it used to suffer from the same problem?

I have many more troubleshooting ideas we could try, but I won't bombard you with them until you indicate that you're willing to help. Usually this is something I would do in direct contact with someone through tech support, but I've been trying to post here more regularly.

Thank you for the patience!
Nick C.

mustafa0316

Happy to try anything. I also opened a ticket with Just Flight about a week ago and they told me to uninstall the older Working Title GNS 530 package in the MSFS marketplace. But this did not fix the problem. Haven't heard from them since

Similar to the person in the other thread about the Baron ... It always works the first time you load up MSFS, but every time after that it stops working. It also works when you start the flight on the runway. My suspicion is that it's something to do with black square's state saving

mustafa0316

And regarding the conflicts... I don't have any other mods installed.. just a few other aircraft like the Flysimware 414 and the WB sim 172

mustafa0316

It also seems to be related to another bug which is your flight plan not showing up in the GNS 530. When it correctly loads, the autopilot works fine

chiron

Just to chime in here too, I'm having same problem and do not have the TDS GTNxi 750 or PMS50 GTN installed. Missing flying the TBM 850 but I'm sure you guys will figure it out, Thanks.

Orlaam

I only use the TDS 750. I do own the PMS version, but find it a little weird since I'm so used to the official Garmin version. I've flown the King Air twice, the Bonanza once, and the TBM two or three times in SU14. I have not had any issues with the AP not engaging or following commands. I arm the ALT panel and then engage IAS and HDG or NAV on climb out. ILS/RNAV APP modes work fine too.

Maybe I've just been lucky? I do have the WT 530 installed in MSFS, but I do not like the older Garmin 430/530 units, they're not as user-friendly as the 750, nor can you tweak settings or the flight plan fast enough. They were great years ago however, lol.

Black Square

Thank you all for providing more information, and for the votes of confidence. I've dropped everything else I'm working on to focus on this right now.

I have good news! I was able to replicate what you were seeing, and I have found a single line to be the culprit in the new WT GNS. I don't fully understand why, but I am able to produce the bug with 100% reliability by toggling that line on and off. You were right that this could be avoided if the instrument was loaded as the primary on startup, and never unloaded by the aircraft's state saving. I'm very confident that this is the culprit, and the TDS issue was only a side effect. Luckily, this is very easy for you to fix locally, but I will obviously have to contact Working Title for a patch to be made. Please make the following change to...

...\Official\OneStore\workingtitle-instruments-garmin-gns\html_ui\Pages\VCockpit\Instruments\NavSystems\GPS\WT530\WT530B.js (and WT430B.js)

Search for "Update loop for the main screen", and replace the existing update function with the following:

        update() {
            var _a, _b;
            const isPrimaryInstrument = this.props.options.navIndex === 1;
            this.clock.onUpdate();
            this.props.backplane.onUpdate();
            if (isPrimaryInstrument) {
                (_a = this.autopilot) === null || _a === void 0 ? void 0 : _a.update();
                // Planner update
                const now = Date.now();
                if (now - this.lastCalculate > 3000) {
                    this.planner.hasFlightPlan(msfsGarminsdk.Fms.PRIMARY_PLAN_INDEX) && this.planner.getFlightPlan(msfsGarminsdk.Fms.PRIMARY_PLAN_INDEX).calculate();
                    // SimVar.SetSimVarValue('K:HEADING_GYRO_SET', SimVarValueType.Number, 0);
                    this.lastCalculate = now;
                }
                this.gpsSynchronizer.update();
            }
            (_b = this.vnavController) === null || _b === void 0 ? void 0 : _b.update();
            if (this.currentPowerState === PowerState.On || this.currentPowerState === PowerState.OnSkipInit) {
                this.gpsSatComputer.onUpdate();
            }
        }

Once you have seen if this solves your problem, please tell me asap so that I can contact Working Title. Thank you all for working with me. I hope this is the solution. Good luck!

mustafa0316

Thanks so much for looking into this. I won't be home until Friday but hopefully someone else here can test this

uminus

Now it works ok, thank you :)

Black Square

Thank you for the message! I'll wait to see if I can get a couple more confirmations, and then I will write to WT.

I'm so sorry that this took more than a week to find. I should have jumped on it immediately, but I assumed it would be fixed quickly if the problem had been with the WT GNS. The reason the problem doesn't occur in other aircraft, btw, is that the GPS never has to reboot in aircraft without hotswapping, but in my aircraft, the active GPS will often reboot at start when the configuration is synchronizing.

Xantrass

Looks good.

Did a quick check with a dual GNS530 setup in the TBM:
HDG Mode, NAV Mode and VS is working again after implementing the function above.

Black Square

Thank you all so much. I will write to Working Title immediately. I have been working on my own improvements to the GNS 530 recently, so hopefully they will be receptive to those, and you can have an even better experience. Pretty please share this fix and the news of an upcoming patch with those on the MSFS Official Forums that might be having the same problem. I'll let you know when I hear from WT.