Possible GTN650 integration?

SebAvi

@MarkS thanks for info, for me defauld 430 is so bugged that alternatives will be great to have

MarkS

Drat, I spoke too soon. I've hit a snag, and it could be a show stopper. The GTN looks great but it won't couple to the autopilot in anything other than HDG mode. In NAV or APPR it just flies in circles. Investigating.

Rhinozherous

@MarkS said in Possible GTN650 integration?:

Drat, I spoke too soon. I've hit a snag, and it could be a show stopper. The GTN looks great but it won't couple to the autopilot in anything other than HDG mode. In NAV or APPR it just flies in circles. Investigating.

This sounds bad. I hope the problem is not that severe as it sounds. Wish you all the best!

Dingle

@MarkS said in Possible GTN650 integration?:

Drat, I spoke too soon. I've hit a snag, and it could be a show stopper. > The GTN looks great but it won't couple to the autopilot in anything other than HDG mode. In NAV or APPR it just flies in circles. Investigating.

That's what happened to me when I was hotswapping the GTN in the Dukes. Maybe that helps you.

Dingle

@MarkS Would you be able to summerize the steps you did to get you so far? I would really like to play with that stuff too and do not really know where to start. I looked at JayDees mod and I got it to work that in the virtual file tree the panel.cfgs are overloaded, but it kept showing the GNS430. Can you point me at what i am missing?

That is what I put in the mod panel.cfg:

[VCockpit16]
size_mm                = 960,702
pixel_size            = 960,702
texture                = GNS530
htmlgauge00=NavSystems/JD_GTN650_GNS430/JD_GTN650_GNS430.html?index=1, 		0, 0, 960,702

[VCockpit17]
size_mm                = 960,702
pixel_size            = 960,702
texture                = GNS530
htmlgauge00=NavSystems/JD_GTN650_GNS430/JD_GTN650_GNS430.html?index=1, 		0, 0, 960,702

Probably I am missing some important steps.

Cheers

MarkS

@Dingle you need to keep the original texture names, as below. The dimensions you have are proportioned for a 530 bezel, for the 430 you want 700 x 380.

I found that there are many changes to the CDU Javascript code between 1.0 and 1.1, and I suspect the contortions poor Nick had to go through to work around the default autopilot anomolies are causing the disconnect with the GTN650.

[VCockpit16]
size_mm				= 700,380
pixel_size			= 700,380
texture				= $GNS430Screen_ApEnabled
htmlgauge00=NavSystems/JD_GTN650_GNS430/JD_GTN650_GNS430.html?Index=1, 0, 0, 700,380

[VCockpit17]
size_mm				= 700,380
pixel_size			= 700,380
texture				= $GNS430Screen_ApDisabled
htmlgauge00=NavSystems/JD_GTN650_GNS430/JD_GTN650_GNS430.html?Index=2, 0, 0, 700,380

Dingle

@MarkS Great, thanks. So what you are saying is that changing the panel.cfg and adding jaydees Module should actually do the Trick. Or anything else required. As soon the gtn650 would show I could use Events to Power it on, right?

MarkS

@Dingle Yes, the PMS GTN add-on, Jaydee's mod, and the panel.cfg edit are usually all you need. Sometimes, as was the case with 1.0, you need to turn on the avionics master if the plane isn't doing it, but that's fixed in 1.1

Dingle

@MarkS you also mentioned you had issues with the liveries, I was modifying all panel.cfg, but so did you probably. Which livery did you get too work? The 2000s?

MarkS

@Dingle my livery problems were entirely self-inflicted. Initially I could only get it to work with the 2000A livery, but I've got the GTN appearing in all liveries now.

That said, if you have livery from a 3rd party, you'll need to make the same edits to its panel.cfg file.

Dingle

@MarkS Great, I will try tonight. I will edit all of the panel.cfg and hope for the best.

Marionettework

@MarkS said in Possible GTN650 integration?:

@Dingle my livery problems were entirely self-inflicted. Initially I could only get it to work with the 2000A livery, but I've got the GTN appearing in all liveries now.

That said, if you have livery from a 3rd party, you'll need to make the same edits to its panel.cfg file.

Is there a way to provide a 3rd party livery panel.cfg without messing up what you’re doing with the GTN? What is the easiest way to make the two compatible?

Working on a livery right and I’d also like your mod to work.

MarkS

@Marionettework If you made your panel.cfg compatible with my mod, then it wouldn’t be compatible any longer with the base product. For that reason, I provide instructions with my mods for the end user to make the required modification. The 40th Anniversary DC-3 has the same requirement.

Please also note that, currently, “work” is a relative term. The GTN functions within itself, but right now it will not couple to the autopilot for NAV or APPR so it looks nice but can’t do anything. It remains to be seen if this is solvable.

Dingle

@MarkS Just tried it again. I am missing something. I have the PANEL.CFG and the panel.xml like mentioned by @Black-Square in the mod folder and I see that the panel.cfg is taken from the mod folder. But still the GNS430 appears. Any idea?

MarkS

@Dingle

Check your path. The panel files should be under MODNAME\SimObjects\Airplanes\bksq-aircraft-starship\panel (and panel.NNNNN)
Did you regenerate the layout.cfg file?
Ensure the pms50-instrument-gtn750 and "ZZZ JD 00 GTN750 MAIN MOD 2.3 - PMS FIX" folders are in Community,.

Dingle

@MarkS I checked multiple times and see in the VFS that there are both pathes present, I am now wondering if the order it loads might be wrong as both folders are in the community folder.

Thanks for the patience.

Dingle

@MarkS It now shows, so it really was the order it loads from the community folder... I should have thought of that earlier. Sorry.

MarkS

@Dingle no worries, I've been bitten by that one myself in the past.

Dingle

@MarkS I guess after the new autopilot code it will no longer work. Even the poped out gtn750 cant control it anymore.

MarkS

@Dingle yes, it’s like the GTN is being blocked somehow. But not all of it, oddly enough. HDG mode works, and you can set an altitude, VS mode, and a rate of climb or descent using the autopilot panel on the GTN. FLC might work too, though I’ve not tried it.

It’s as if the new autopilot code is detached from and is ignoring the standard autopilot’s NAV and APPR functions. If so, it follows that the GTN wouldn’t work either. But I’m just spitballing here, and the man who knows for certain is at FSExpo.

We should be prepared for the possibility that this is one of those planes where it’s just too much trouble to mod a GTN into it. I have had one or two of those in the past. But I’m not giving up on this one just yet.