Caravan audio panel and vPilot
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Currently using vPilot version 3.7.0 (the latest as of this post) and Caravan version 14a. This has been the case since at least October; that's when I first picked the Caravan up, so I don't know if a prior version of vPilot worked better with it.
You can't listen to both Com 1 and Com 2 on vPilot without also selecting Com 3 on the Caravan audio panel. Selecting Com 1 Mic or Com 2 Mic appropriately switches the transmit frequency in vPilot, but you can't listen to both simultaneously without also selecting Com 3.
I put this in as part of my AP support ticket a few months ago, and this was the reply received (as a refresher):
This is a known shortcoming of the vPilot client, because it uses some old variables instead of the new recommended ones. I have tried to fix this for people in the past, but nobody has ever written back to me after requesting a fix to tell me if it worked! If this customer would like to give the fix a try, here is the code to add to AnalogCaravan.XML. The code should be added after the close </Template> tag of the "BKSQ_FAILURE_DATABUS". <!-- VATSIM COM 1 and 2 Monitoring Backwards Compatibility --> <!-- <UseTemplate Name="ASOBO_GT_Update"> <FREQUENCY>1</FREQUENCY> <UPDATE_CODE> (A:COM RECEIVE EX1:1, bool) (A:COM RECEIVE EX1:2, bool) and if{ 1 (>K:COM_RECEIVE_ALL_SET) } </UPDATE_CODE> </UseTemplate> --> Please let us know if this fixes it for you.I did successfully implement that fix, but all that does is automatically select Com 3 when, for example, you have Com 1 Mic and you select Com 2, which basically automates the above issue, and IMO undesirable.
I don't have any other Black Square aircraft other than the TBM to compare, but the TBM does work "correctly" out of the box with vPilot.
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Yes, this does keep coming up from time to time. For more details, the issue is that vPilot, and some other older VATSIM clients are looking specifically for the "COM RECEIVE ALL" variable to signal when to listen to both radios. This was fine in older simulators that only supported two COM radios, but MSFS supports up to four. This means that it will work as intended in aircraft with only one or two radios, but in aircraft with more, all the radios must be receiving just to listen to COM1 and COM2 in vPilot. I occasionally check vPilot's documentation to see if there has been a change to fix this, but it still only mentions two COM radios.
There are many forum threads that debate the correct solution to this issue, but I have yet to see one that suggests anything an aircraft developer can do to mitigate the problem beyond what I've already done.
I'm surprised to hear you say that it appears to be working in the TBM, though. The TBM has four radios in the configuration file, just like all my other aircraft. If you can confirm this to be the case, then perhaps I can think of something to debug this issue, since you were so helpful at getting to the bottom of your Caravan autopilot problem.
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@Black-Square I have spent a bunch of hours in the TBM doing my VA's Alaska tour while on VATSIM, so I was pretty sure, but just to confirm I loaded up the TBM for a quick test. I could hear Indy Center on Com 1 and the KIND ATIS on Com 2 through vPilot without issue, and switch between them at will, without Com 3 needing to be selected at all.
I usually run with one 530 and the radio for Com/Nav 2, as I don't have a second RSG 530 unit, and I confirmed it was successful with that configuration. I did, a few minutes earlier, when I was out of range of anything, try both 530s and according to vPilot the RX for both Coms was lit, so I would expect it to work, I just forgot to try it again when I moved locations.
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That's very interesting. I thought about this overnight and have a couple ideas of what I could look at to get a better idea of what's going on. Thank you for getting me started with the exploration.
