Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air

MatzeH84

Hey there, got the Bonnie and I am setting up my hardware for it. Is there any variable I could use to switch the tank selector?
The MSFS standard (tank selector) via FSUIPC seems to switch the tanks in the background, but the knob is visually stuck in the closed position.
Also, in the manual the alternate air lever is said to have a range 0-100, is this correct? The axis I'd like to assign to it does not work.. The vent levers work perfectly though.
BTW you are really giving me a hard time to resist the Baron. While I'd absolutely love to fly it, I know for certain that splitting my attention between the Baron, Duke and Aerostar wouldn't do justice to any of them.
great addon again!
Now only fuel draining, oil level checking and dipstick for fuel tank are missing

Black Square

Glad you're enjoying!

L:var_AlternateAirHandle should behave the same as its neighbors, like L:var_DefrosterHandle.

The fuel selector should also automatically follow the native variable if you're setting the correct one. It should be A:FUEL TANK SELECTOR:1, enum, with 0 = Off, 19 = Left, and 20 = Right.

Let me know if you have any more questions! In the meantime, the Baron will continue to beckon with its 2,700 RPM growl and meticulously upholstered interiors

MatzeH84

@Black-Square stop it already!
Many thanks for the quick reply, I will try later when I get home.

MatzeH84

Short feedback, Fuel tank selector is behaving now, and for the alternate air handle I somehow missed the var_ in front- all working, many thanks!

Ron Attwood

Is there a list of these Lvars? And where do you get them? I feels like I'm the only one in the world who are ignorant of these magic potions. Even Google takes it for granted I know what they're talking about!
Anyway, apart from that.....All good

jmarkows

@Ron-Attwood said in Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air:

Is there a list of these Lvars? And where do you get them? I feels like I'm the only one in the world who are ignorant of these magic potions. Even Google takes it for granted I know what they're talking about!
Anyway, apart from that.....All good

Long ago, Nick started listing out pretty much every single LVar and its range in the back of the various aircraft manuals. You would be hard-pressed to find better documentation among any add-on developer.

Ron Attwood

I know you're trying to help but this is exactly the wall I run into. That is a LIST of the L:vars but how does one utilise them? I use FSUIPC to select which button/lever does which job.........

Sorry, I just dropped off. I'll use the mouse. Thanks for listening

Ape42

@Ron-Attwood You'll find quite a lot of L-Vars inside the manual that you can download from the product page on JustFlight.

jmarkows

@Ron-Attwood said in Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air:

I know you're trying to help but this is exactly the wall I run into. That is a LIST of the L:vars but how does one utilise them? I use FSUIPC to select which button/lever does which job.........

Sorry, I just dropped off. I'll use the mouse. Thanks for listening

This is a very different question. I am assuming you have the paid version of FSUIPC?

I also use it because apparently I am a glutton for punishment and ancient user interfaces. Who needs modern UI when you can learn reverse Polish notation, am I right?

I have been dabbling in doing it for a while, but over the past few days with the Bonanza I have refreshed my memory and even picked up a few new tricks. To get you started, I'll leave you with these few links:

https://community.justflight.com/topic/9215/fs2024-version-cws-yoke-button-assignment/16?_=1761849776202

Above I try to write some basic tips with examples from my own FSUIPC setup to get someone started with basic binding, so hopefully that helps you. I would also welcome feedback on it and whether or not it gets you going.

https://community.justflight.com/topic/9313/cowl-flaps-lvar-help
https://community.justflight.com/topic/9315/manipulating-cabin-air-vents-via-lvars

Here I play aroudn with using various controller axes in order to control various non-standard levers around the cockpit, with snippets of what I did (that didn't work originally) as well as what I ended up doing to get them working. They were written to ask for help with them, and I solved the problems along the way.

I do recommend reading both the FSUIPC User Guide and Guide for Advanced Users; John and/or Pete Downson might not be as engrossing writers as Dickens, Dumas, and Doyle, but if you're technically-minded it will usually get you started on the path.

Ron Attwood

Oh! Did you see that? A little light bulb flickered. I have in my FSUIPC folder a 'Myevents' in there are a couple of BS Mixtures and a pair of L:BKSQ IgnitionPositions. For the life of me I can't remember how I came about them
The light is getting brighter.
So all I need to do is copy whichever L:VAR or whatever and paste it in Myevents? Right? Please say Right.
I wouldn't mind but FSUIPC takes care of practically everything bar a couple or three bits.
Guide for Advanced Users is just..For Advanced Users. I don't fit into that category. It took me three days to get my head back together.
Thanks VERY much for pointing me in the right direction. 'preciate it.

jmarkows

@Ron-Attwood said in Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air:

So all I need to do is copy whichever L:VAR or whatever and paste it in Myevents? Right? Please say Right.

So let's start from the beginning. What are you looking specifically to bind? What function or LVar? Depending on that, it may be fairly simple.

Ron Attwood

Aaagh. My light just went out. I was trying to get the magnetos to act like magnetos. As in every other plane. You know magneto1 incr/decr magneto 2 incr/decr
I've already got them to go from OFF to as far as they'll go and to continue while held which engages the starter. I'm happy with that. I hate to play the age card but at 85 I get a little short of patience. Thanks James/John/?
I started my simming with FSX the aircraft controls have remained the same but for progress's sake the way of getting at them has 'improved'. Hurumph

jmarkows

@Ron-Attwood said in Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air:

Aaagh. My light just went out. I was trying to get the magnetos to act like magnetos. As in every other plane. You know magneto1 incr/decr magneto 2 incr/decr
I've already got them to go from OFF to as far as they'll go and to continue while held which engages the starter. I'm happy with that. I hate to play the age card but at 85 I get a little short of patience. Thanks James/John/?
I started my simming with FSX the aircraft controls have remained the same but for progress's sake the way of getting at them has 'improved'. Hurumph

So are they working? I see in the manual they're listed as K: events, which means standard sim events and the in-sim bindings should work, as well as an LVar if you want to get fancy.

Shouldn't need to in this case, though.

I loaded into the Bonanza (since that's the sub forum we're in here) and tried these two bindings. It works perfectly for me, control + -> increased the magneto switch, and control + <- decreased the magneto switch. Each press moved it one position, and I could hold control + -> to keep it in Start for as long as I wanted to. No FSUIPC needed in this case.

This is in FS2024, but I would expect 2020 to work the same way.

Ron Attwood

These are Asobo controls and I don't use Asobo controls. I use FSUIPC. It's what I like.

jmarkows

Ah, so you don't bind anything in MSFS at all. Did you get it working? If not I'll have a look.

jmarkows

I'm afraid I'm at an impasse here with this. It should be working through FSUIPC by simply selecting the existing FS Control "Magneto 1 Increase/Decrease" as desired, but it is not. I have been able to bind certain other K: events to buttons, like the Kollsman Increase, Battery 1 Set, Left Pitot Heat Toggle (btw @Black-Square, the Bonanza manual lists Left and Right Pitot Heat switches, am I missing something? I can only find the one).

I may reach out to John/Pete Dowson (I forget which is the retired father and which is the son) and see what they say, but I suspect they will (perhaps correctly) immediately point the finger at MSFS24. I even confirmed with the online SDK, as indecipherable as it is to a layman like me, that K:Magneto1_Incr is the correct K event to call, but for some damn reason it isn't working, and yet the similarly named binding in the sim does work.

Nick, if you have the free time and the inclination, are you able to see what is firing in the sim when the keybinds pictured in the above post are called? Is it the listed K:Magneto1_Incr/Decr key events? I can't imagine why it wouldn't be but that just makes the fact that it isn't working that much more frustrating.

@Ron-Attwood the only thing I can recommend at this point is biting the bullet and binding the magneto increase/decrease in the sim itself if it's that important to have it. Is there anything else you were wanting to bind I can take a look at?

MatzeH84

For FSUIPC some things may be set up using events.
So where you assign the buttons, instead of selecting 'FS command' use 'Event'. There you'll have the BKSQ Magneto variable. For each step on your hardware you would assign this event, with setting 0 for off and 5 for start, and everything in between. I was struggling a bit too with the mag switch at first.

jmarkows

I have a button box coming with an ignition switch that that will no doubt be the answer for. I tried that and it did work.

Ron Attwood

Can you detect a hint of hysteria coming through? Using Events was and still is my only recourse. I have two options L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1 and L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2. Using those lets me use the magnetos BUT the go from Off to Full with no stops in between as you get when using the magneto INCR/DECR in the non BLKSQ world. I'm prepared to go with that. If we were sitting round a table OR on a voice channel this would be done and dusted by now. Still, gives us something to do.
I refuse on principle to use Asobo's mess. Very early on in 2024 I found the whole controls thing unusable (to me) So I spent a lot of time creating profiles with nothing in them barring the keyboard shortcut. FSUIPC now handles everything including button to keystrokes. It has done since FSX. Too old to change now
I'm trying to not let this, which in the scheme of things is trivial, rub any of the shine off my lovely Beeches.

jmarkows

Using IgnitionPosition_1 will work, I tried it last night, but you need to specify the value to set it to a specific position, it won't just increase or decrease. Without scripting or some very fancy "if" statements in the event, which I have not yet deciphered how to do, you'd need an individual button for each position.