Integrating Blacksquare HVAR Remote Failure Triggers On The Pilot Edge Network
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Hey Nick, I was hoping you might be able to comment on an interesting development over at the Pilot Edge Network. ( https://www.pilotedge.net/ ) The Devs over there have implemented a live flight tracker ( https://tracker.pilotedge.net/flights ) that also allows failures to be triggered by an authorized remote user on a current flight/aircraft. Currently the failure trigger system has only been implemented for X-Plane users, but the developer is considering the idea of expanding that feature to MSFS users as well. Your Blacksquare addons are the most popular MSFS GA addons on the PE network, so naturally, I was thinking of how amazing it would be to implement your custom failure model in to future development over at PE. Do you think this would work? And.. Is there a way via sim connect, HVARS, or other variables can be read remotely to identify if the aircraft on the network is a Blacksquare addon and which model addon it is?
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What fun! I have great respect for the PilotEdge folks. Please pass along my best wishes, if you are in touch. In reverse order, my aircraft should be easily detectible by the same means used for 3rd party career applications, which just look at the aircraft demographic information in aircraft.cfg. Both ui_manufacturer, and ui_createdby should be "Black Square" for all my aircraft, and he model can be read from ui_type. I already support the triggering of failures remotely via HTML Events, which is documented in my manuals. The trouble right now is reading the state of those failures, since that would require updating hundreds of L:Vars. If no feedback is required, then it should be immediately possible. Let me know if you have any more questions! I would be happy to help.
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What fun! I have great respect for the PilotEdge folks. Please pass along my best wishes, if you are in touch. In reverse order, my aircraft should be easily detectible by the same means used for 3rd party career applications, which just look at the aircraft demographic information in aircraft.cfg. Both ui_manufacturer, and ui_createdby should be "Black Square" for all my aircraft, and he model can be read from ui_type. I already support the triggering of failures remotely via HTML Events, which is documented in my manuals. The trouble right now is reading the state of those failures, since that would require updating hundreds of L:Vars. If no feedback is required, then it should be immediately possible. Let me know if you have any more questions! I would be happy to help.
@Black-Square Thanks Nick!
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@Black-Square, FYI, I sent the Dev for Pilot Edge a link to this thread. If he pursues this idea, then I'm sure he will reach out if he needs any help.
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Hey Nick @Black-Square. Question from the Dev...
can you ask the dev at JustFlight to post a specific example of the EXACT URL that is used to trigger a failure? The docs list all the failure variables, but never seem to mention the specific elements of the URL, or the port, etc
I was under the impression it was straight HTTP calls directly to a custom listener....he's literally listing URL paramters in the docs.
[1:00 PM]Saturday, March 14, 2026 1:00 PM
if you can post a message asking him to verify what I listed above, and whether this can be triggered by a vanilla HTTP request, outside of SimConnect, that would give me everything I need. -
Hey Nick, First off, thank you for the updated Caravan.
Secondly, I just finished a very successful proof of concept test with the Pilot Edge Dev. We are able to consistently trigger your custom failures remotely from the proprietary PE controllers scope. This opens up some very interesting opportunities for real world proficiency training. We found a few inconsistencies with the tablet color when resetting failures via HVARS, but functionally the failures are being triggered and resetting correctly. We also found some inconsistencies with the actual HVAR name (found in the tablet) versus what's in the manuals.
I know you are super busy, but when you have free time, maybe we can connect off this forum.
Cheers!
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Hey Nick, First off, thank you for the updated Caravan.
Secondly, I just finished a very successful proof of concept test with the Pilot Edge Dev. We are able to consistently trigger your custom failures remotely from the proprietary PE controllers scope. This opens up some very interesting opportunities for real world proficiency training. We found a few inconsistencies with the tablet color when resetting failures via HVARS, but functionally the failures are being triggered and resetting correctly. We also found some inconsistencies with the actual HVAR name (found in the tablet) versus what's in the manuals.
I know you are super busy, but when you have free time, maybe we can connect off this forum.
Cheers!
@Buzz Excellent to hear!! I'm super flattered that you guys are working on this. I got an email from the PilotEdge lead last week, but I apologize that I have been too busy with the Caravan update to respond yet. It sounds like you guys are getting along just fine by yourselves, but know that I am absolutely here to help however I can with this one, and I will respond to that email soon.
