Mode C automatically engaged when starting vPilot in P3D 4.1

[Bill Ruppel]

Using PMDG 747 QotS II in P3D 4.1, FSUIPC 5.121b.

 

When I start vPilot, mode C is being automatically engaged. I simultaneously see the switch on the 747 radio stack being turned from Stby to TA/RA.

 

Plane is on the ground, and I also have the "Automatically squawk mode C on takeoff" disabled.

 

Any idea what is going on here?

 

Thanks,

 

- Bill

[Ross Carlson]

vPilot remembers the state of your transponder from one run to the next, so if you last shut down vPilot while squawking mode C, it will be squawking mode C the next time you start it up. And vPilot syncs the state of the transponder when it first connects to the simulator.

[Magnus Meese]

Neat!

[Bill Ruppel]

Hi Ross,

 

I don't doubt that's the case... but in my instance, Mode C is being enabled even if I exit vPilot with Mode C disabled...

 

Is there a debug log I can collect that will help pinpoint the cause?

 

I am running the latest Beta channel version.

 

Thanks,

 

- Bill

[Ross Carlson]

but in my instance, Mode C is being enabled even if I exit vPilot with Mode C disabled...

 

When you disable mode C and exit vPilot, what do you see in the airplane for the transponder mode switch?

[Bill Ruppel]

When you disable mode C and exit vPilot, what do you see in the airplane for the transponder mode switch?

 

The plane remains in standby.

 

I wonder, though: Why does vPilot bother remembering the mode when it last exited?? I never want vPilot to change the mode unless I explicitly ask it to do so... can you at least make this an option?

 

Thanks,

 

- Bill

[Ross Carlson]

I wonder, though: Why does vPilot bother remembering the mode when it last exited?? I never want vPilot to change the mode unless I explicitly ask it to do so

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but if it didn't remember the last setting, then it would be changing the mode without you explicitly asking it to do so.

[Bill Ruppel]

Maybe I'm missing something, but if it didn't remember the last setting, then it would be changing the mode without you explicitly asking it to do so.

 

Allow me to clarify: I don't want vPilot changing the mode on startup, ever. i.e. I only want it to READ the value from the sim, not SET the value in the sim.

 

Catch what I mean now? I presume this must be possible, since vPilot detects when I change the transponder in the sim.

 

Thanks,

 

- Bill

[Randy Tyndall 1087023]

I've only used vPilot one time, and everything went off without a hitch or hiccup, but my one time use is probably why even I don't understand what you are asking for Bill.

 

I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ume on startup of your flight simulator you have a default flight that loads, since that is suggested by PMDG when using their aircraft. In that startup flight are you referring to the squawk code or the transponder setting of "off", "stby", "alt", etc? I [Mod - Happy Thoughts]ume based on your original post it is the setting, but I wanted to make sure.

 

If I understand the way vPilot "reads" your transponder setting, one of the last actions of the previous flight you did with vPilot active should have been to switch the transponder to "stdy" or off (unless you saved a flight en route to complete at another time).

 

Therefore, on start up of vPilot it should still show that last setting of "stby" or off and show that in your sim. You are saying it does not, correct, that it automatically, of its own accord, changes the mode to Charlie in the PMDG B747 after you load it in the sim (having started with a default aircraft first), even though on startup the B747's transponder was off or in stby?

 

You mention FSUIPC in your opening post. Is there a setting in FSUIPC that is making the transponder change in the B747 and vPilot is "reading" that change and merely "reacting" faster than the B747 transponder does?

 

Perhaps I should just stay out of this since I neither own the QOTS for FSX or use vPilot on a regular basis, but sometimes a disinterested third party can see "outside the tunnel" although I doubt that is the case for me...

 

Randy

[Robert Shearman Jr]

If your aircraft (default or payware) boots up with the transponder in standby, then you start vPilot which was in Mode C when it was last shut down, vPilot will start in Mode C *and* set the transponder in your aircraft to match.

 

I kind of agree with Bill that I'd prefer vPilot, on startup, to read the state of the aircraft transponder and set *itself* accordingly; but, as checking the transponder (and vPilot) squawk mode is part of my startup routine anyway, it's certainly not a huge deal to me either way.

[Ross Carlson]

Allow me to clarify: I don't want vPilot changing the mode on startup, ever. i.e. I only want it to READ the value from the sim, not SET the value in the sim.

 

Catch what I mean now? I presume this must be possible, since vPilot detects when I change the transponder in the sim.

 

Yes, I know what you mean ... you want the setting within the aircraft's radio panel to take precedence over the setting in the vPilot UI, when syncing the two after first loading the aircraft.

 

The reason vPilot behaves the way it does is very hard to explain. Suffice it to say that the transponder mode setting is not a normal SimConnect variable and it is only accessible to vPilot via SimConnect when the user has FSUIPC installed and they are using an add-on aircraft where the developer added support for the old Squawkbox offsets for controlling transponder mode and ident.

 

And even when the developer supports these offsets, the way they support them isn't consistent from one aircraft to the next. For example, not all panels will set the offset to match the transponder mode setting when the aircraft is first loaded. They'll only change the value when the user changes the setting.

 

It also has to do with an issue where if vPilot is restarted during a flight, and the user is not flying an add-on aircraft that supports the Squawkbox offsets, their transponder would always get set to standby when vPilot restarts, thus I added the code to have vPilot remember the last setting. Unfortunately there is no way for vPilot to know whether or not the loaded aircraft supports the Squawkbox offsets, so I can't have vPilot enable/disable this behavior automatically based on the loaded aircraft.

 

Have you tried starting vPilot *before* loading the aircraft? I'm not sure about the PMDG QOTS, but if it has proper support for the FSUIPC offsets, then it should set the proper value in the offset when you load the aircraft, and vPilot will see that change, and sync the state of the Mode C button on the vPilot window.

[Bill Ruppel]

Thanks for the explanation Ross, I'll learn to live with it.

 

- Bill