Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air

jmarkows

Aha, I am an idiot. Or perhaps just ignorant. It turns out, the leading > is very important because that apparently means you are setting the variant. So yes, I was overriding the IgnitionPosition LVar by attempting to call it, which is why I got stuck at a value of 1.

For some reason, increasing from 3 to 4 does nothing on the magneto, Nick will have to answer why. By whacking the key a few times I did get her to sputter momentarily like she wanted to start, but nothing prolonged. I'm going to see if I can work out an if statement for the preset to skip 4 altogether.

jmarkows

Yep, stumped until Nick can weigh in. I can increment and decrement it fine now, but going from 3 to 4 does nothing, so I can't advance to 5. Putting in an if statement to skip 4 and go directly to 5 will put the magneto in start, but the engine does not crank.

Trying to put the magneto in 4 and then 5 does the same.

Closer to getting presets that work for increments and decrements through FSUIPC, though.

Ron Attwood

You gotta laugh. I've spent loads of time experimenting with parameters 1-5. Settled on 4
This is my 'solution'
9=PE,3,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_L,0.000000 -{Input Event}-
10=PE,5,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_R,0.000000 -{Input Event}-
11=RE,2,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_L,4.000000 -{Input Event}-
12=RE,4,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_R,4.000000 -{Input Event}-

That gets my motors running in what feels like a realistic manner. These are on rocker switches. Top part to increse lower part to decrease. The 4s indicate hold assignment while pressed. = Starter

jmarkows

Does that actually work?

Ron Attwood

It does but as I said earlier, the switch goes from Off straight through to full on. Holding the button in fires the starter
pressing the mags off part and they go straight to OFF so testing mags isn't an option (Not that I've EVER done that!

jmarkows

I need to learn more about input events clearly. I did find that magneto controller variable but the last time I tried it I think I still had some bugs.

jmarkows

@Black-Square Thoughts on why L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1 isn't working properly when set to 4 or 5? I can't start the Bonanza incrementing up from 0.

I'm not having any luck incrementing the MagnetoController, either, so I can't step through that way.

Black Square

I haven't exactly been sure why some users have struggled with this in some of my aircraft, but I've had a very simple fix in mind for a while. You should be able to use the 5 position of this variable as intended for the start position without the spring return now. Update next week, is the plan!

jmarkows

@Black-Square said in Variable for the fuel selector / alternate air:

I haven't exactly been sure why some users have struggled with this in some of my aircraft, but I've had a very simple fix in mind for a while. You should be able to use the 5 position of this variable as intended for the start position without the spring return now. Update next week, is the plan!

Unfortunately, setting the 5 position will move the switch into the start position, but it will not crank. I just tried it once again to confirm.

Black Square

@jmarkows I know. I just fixed it

jmarkows

Ah, I misunderstood and though going direct to 5 now would work, and the fix for going incrementally from 4 was coming next week.

Understood!

If I'm reading your code correctly, and I'm almost certainly not, I think there's a requirement to hold it in position 4 for at least half a second? I think that would be why simply going 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 -> 5 using an individual button press isn't working. That step from 3 to 4 sometimes induces a cough from the engine, then stops.

Thank you kindly! Sorry for being a nuisance.

Black Square

Not a nuisance at all! All these suggestions make my aircraft better. I think the timing you're looking at only pertains to mouse interactions. I would just program my hardware input to increment 0 -> 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 5, and that should work as expected.

jmarkows

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

You gotta laugh. I've spent loads of time experimenting with parameters 1-5. Settled on 4
This is my 'solution'
9=PE,3,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_L,0.000000 -{Input Event}-
10=PE,5,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_R,0.000000 -{Input Event}-
11=RE,2,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_L,4.000000 -{Input Event}-
12=RE,4,CIBKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_R,4.000000 -{Input Event}-

That gets my motors running in what feels like a realistic manner. These are on rocker switches. Top part to increse lower part to decrease. The 4s indicate hold assignment while pressed. = Starter

We can do one better than this. I think I can get you to be able to cycle between the magneto settings because I can do it on my side.
Disclaimer: I have my FSUIPC stuff split into profiles for each aircraft I use. If you keep everything in your FSUIPC.ini file, some changes will need to be made.

Place this into the bottom of the same file your buttons are bound in:

[InputEventOffsets]
0=BKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_L=UB0xA000
1=BKSQ_MAGNETOCONTROLLER_R=UB0xA002

Then modify your above button settings as follows:

9=PE,3,Cx2100A000,x00000001 	-{offset ubyte decrement, offset A000 (Decr=1, Limit=0)}-
10=PE,5,Cx2100A002,x00000001 	-{offset ubyte decrement, offset A002 (Decr=1, Limit=0)}-
11=RE,2,Cx1100A000,x00040001 	-{offset ubyte increment, offset A000 (Incr=1, Limit=4)}-
12=RE,4,Cx1100A002,x00040001 	-{offset ubyte increment, offset A002 (Incr=1, Limit=4)}-

This should let you flip your rockers up and down to cycle the magnetos up and down from Off through Start (will need to be held in Start the way you are currently).

Let me know how it works.

Ron Attwood

I'm now starting to feel very guilty. You've spent more time on this that it deserves. I also have loads of profiles for different types
"Place this into the bottom of the same file your buttons are bound in:"
I got lost at this point.
If, at some point, this gets fixed in an update I'll be very pleased. But at this point my head hurts.
Very sincerely, thanks for your efforts.
Perhaps at some point I looked as though I knew what I was doing. But looks can be deceiving.

jmarkows

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

I'm now starting to feel very guilty. You've spent more time on this that it deserves.

Don't feel too terrible about it. As an engineer by day, I am one of those people who cannot let started problems rest until I solve them. Plus I learned a bunch along the way.

"Place this into the bottom of the same file your buttons are bound in:"
I got lost at this point.

Well you copied your button bindings in that earlier post from somewhere. What file did those come out of? FSUIPIC.ini, or a separate profile ini? It should go in there.

jmarkows

@Ron-Attwood now that Nick has made changes to the LVar, this weekend I should have an event for each magneto you can drop into myevents.txt and bind to a button to increase and decrease each one through the full range.

You'll need the new 1.1 update.

jmarkows

//Black Square/Common/Engine
BS_Magneto1_Increase#(L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1, number) ++ 4 == if{ 5 (>L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1, number) } els{ (L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1, number) ++ 5 min (>L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1, number) } 
BS_Magneto1_Decrease#(L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1, number) -- 0 max (>L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_1, number)
BS_Magneto2_Increase#(L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2, number) ++ 4 == if{ 5 (>L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2, number) } els{ (L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2, number) ++ 5 min (>L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2, number) } 
BS_Magneto2_Decrease#(L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2, number) -- 0 max (>L:BKSQ_IgnitionPosition_2, number)

These are the shiny new events that get added into myevents.txt, //Black Square header and all. When you go to bind your Magneto Increase/Decrease buttons, select Select for Preset as the bind type, then under the Find Preset button, you'll see Personal -> Black Square -> Common -> Engine and you'll see those four events.

jmarkows

Not sure where else to put this at this point, but @Black-Square your Bonanza and Baron manuals are missing the var_ prefix from the OAT/Map light switch variable names.

EDIT: and the Duke manuals, so I suspect this one has been sitting there for a while.

Black Square

Fixed them all, thank you.