MSFS 2020 Transponder ON does not switch Mode C in vPilot

[Salvador Alvarez 0]

Anybody else experiencing this?

[Ross Carlson 152]

This is true for most aircraft in FSX and P3D as well. The aircraft must support the Squawkbox FSUIPC offsets in order for it to work. I doubt any of the default MSFS aircraft do so. (If that's even still possible with FSUIPC 7.)

You'll need to use the button on the vPilot window or the dot command to set mode C.

[Guillaume Hartenstein 0]

Hello !

After reading the vPilot documentation and doing some research, I am unable to find the dot command to set mode C  you are talking about.
And while on this topic, is there a command to Ident ?
These two commands would help a lot, as I'm using SPAD.neXt to interface with SimConnect and I'm not quite sure if there is a way to communicate with the Squawkbox client data area using SPAD.neXt only... (as I would like to avoid having to use FSUIPC)

Thanks in advance for your help ! And congrats for the work on all this software, it's awesome !

Guillaume Hartenstein

 

[Matthew Bartels 74]

The very large Mode C and IDENT buttons on the top of the vPilot window next to the connect and flight plan buttons🙂

[Guillaume Hartenstein 0]

Hello Matthew,

I meant dot commands, not manually pressing the buttons. In his post, Ross suggests there is such a command, which I am unable to find.

On 9/10/2020 at 2:18 AM, Ross Carlson said:

You'll need to use the button on the vPilot window or the dot command to set mode C.

 

[Ross Carlson 152]

Hi Guillaume,

My apologies, there is not a dot command for setting transponder mode or ident. I was thinking of some other software that I wrote. (Non-VATSIM software.) The only way to do it with vPilot is through the buttons on the UI, or the menu items in the Add-Ons menu in the sim. (Which I haven't checked if they actually work in MSFS.)

Are you able to use dot commands from spad.next? If so, I can add dot commands for squawk mode and ident.

[Guillaume Hartenstein 0]

I see, that's what I suspected.

What I can do in SPAD.neXt is simulate a series of key press targeted at the vPilot window that will eventually write the dot command and press enter... Which is tedious (and one might say, pretty ugly) work... But it is the only quick workaround I have found so far...

However, there is an option to run external programs from SPAD.neXt events, so I might just write a quick C++ bit of code that changes the Squawkbox client data. I'm just worried about my rusty programming skills... 😅 But it would be a much more elegant solution. So I guess I'm off to find some ressources on how to use SimConnect in C++  !

In any case, I believe dot commands to set/unset mode C and to ident would be a nice thing to have, if it is not too much trouble to implement in a future version.

Thank you very much for your quick response !

[Ross Carlson 152]

Okay, let me know if you need help with the SimConnect app. If by any chance you are a .NET developer, there is a way to make simple plugins for vPilot that can control the transponder among other things. Let me know if you want to explore that option.

[Guillaume Hartenstein 0]

Ok I'm probably gonna give up trying to figure it out on my own...

I tried C++, and as I suspected my programming skills are too rusty for that... So I decided to install VisualStudio and give it a try with C#, and I believe I would be able to write the code itself (I'm decent at Java, so C# doesn't look too exotic).

However, I'm am completely ignorant on how to setup .NET projects, and it's driving me crazy...
I located the "Microsoft.FlightSimulator.SimConnect.dll" file and referenced it in VisualStudio (that seems to be working since the code compiles), but every time I try to launch a simple Open/Close connection programm, it just yells at me :

System.BadImageFormatException : 'Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.FlightSimulator.SimConnect, Version=11.0.62651.3, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=baf445ffb3a06b5c'.
An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format..

Which, to me, seems like a simple matter of configuration that I have to tweak somewhere, but again, I'm compeltely new to the .NET environment... 

If you have any time to spare to help a newbie in distress, I'd appreciate it a lot !
Otherwise I'm just gonna give up and continue pressing the "mode C" and "ident" manually in vPilot, like any sane person would do instead of driving himself crazy  🤣

[Marcel Haffner 0]

I am not sure if I read your problem correctly ....

Why don’t you check the feature „squawk mode c after take off“ in the settings- misc menu of vpilot. No need to press any buttons just works automatically also with FS2020. 

[Guillaume Hartenstein 0]

Hi Marcel,

My problem isn't really a problem to be honest, it's just a bit of a whim on my part... 😄 I'd just like to be able to change the transponder mode and ident in vPilot by pressing a button on my saitek panels, which is currently a bit tedious to do with FS2020...

I know about the automatic Mode C on take off feature, but I'd like to press the button myself (again, a bit of a whim, but I think getting the realism to a maximum is what VATSIM is all about !)

But you are absolutely right in saying this is not a real problem and is really not a priority. I just like to understand how things work behind the scenes in the sim and I like the idea of developing plug-ins !

[Marcel Haffner 0]

Ok. Got it. Now I understand. 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Marcel Haffner

[Ross Carlson 152]

You should be able to get around that BadImageFormatException by configuring your project to build for x86 instead of Any CPU.

[Guillaume Hartenstein 0]

I tried that and it didn't work. In fact, I get a warning from the Build saying my building architecture (x86) does not match the architecture of the SimConnect DLL...

Anyway, I'll just give up. I'm just trying to bite off more than I can chew here... I am simply not skilled enough in .NET to figure this one out.

If someday you implement the dot commands in vPilot, I'll use them in SPAD.neXt as mentionned before. In the meantime I'll just press the buttons ! 🙂

Thank you very much for your help though ! And keep up the awesome work !

[Alya Simmons 0]

It looks like Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) has a new simulation variable, TRANSPONDER STATE:1, which represents an enum of various transponder modes.  While it should be feasible to implement as a plugin, would it be possible to add built-in functionality to vPilot to read this new variable (as an alternative to the FSUIPC offsets) @Ross Carlson?  The enum values are as follows:

0 = Off
1 = Standby
2 = Test
3 = On
4 = Altitude
5 = Ground

Documentation can be found in the SDK (Documentation/03-Content_Configuration/Variable_Lists/Simulation_Variables.html) and usage can be seen in the model behavior template for the transponder (%localappdata%\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\Packages\Official\OneStore\fs-base-aircraft-common\ModelBehaviorDefs\Asobo\Transponder\Transponder.xml).

Thanks!

Edited September 27, 2020 by Alya Simmons

[Ross Carlson 152]

At some point in the future, when MSFS has stabilized a bit and most of the bugs are worked out, I will be fully exploring the SDK and seeing what things make sense to add to vPilot. This will be one of them. I will also be "teaching" vPilot how to scan your hard drive and detect which aircraft models are installed, for the purposes of model matching. (Right now vPilot has a hardcoded set of models that it uses, based on the aircraft that are available in the standard version of MSFS.)

[Salvador Alvarez 0]

yes, I can change TRANSPONDER STATE with Simconnect and FSUIPC using SPAD.NEXT, but vpilot is not bothering reading that variable. I hope is included soon.

[Teemu Pienimaki 828685 0]

I'm still waiting this to work too, because when using IVAO Altitude (their "vPilot"), the in-sim XPDR STBY/ALT has been working just fine since the launch of their FS2020 client. Really weird that working XPRD still missing on VATSIM vPilot FS2020, even though VATSIM is the official partner of MSFS now. While flying on VATSIM client Mode C on now all the time, I forget to control the REAL transponder button in the cockpit...

Edited November 16, 2020 by Teemu Pienimaki 828685

[Ross Carlson 152]

I just added support for the transponder mode switch in MSFS. This is in vPilot 2.7.0 which is currently available in the Beta channel, or for direct download from the vPilot Downloads Page.

[Teemu Pienimaki 828685 0]

10 hours ago, Ross Carlson said:

I just added support for the transponder mode switch in MSFS. This is in vPilot 2.7.0 which is currently available in the Beta channel, or for direct download from the vPilot Downloads Page.

Thank you! Working fine via G1000 and CJ4 at least. Any plans to bring TCAS for MSFS somehow?

[Ross Carlson 152]

2 hours ago, Teemu Pienimaki 828685 said:

Any plans to bring TCAS for MSFS somehow?

Depends on what you mean ... I'm considering adding a TCAS-like radar window for vPilot, but it would not be integrated into the 3D cockpit, and it wouldn't have TA/RA functionality like a real TCAS. It would just show you all aircraft around you, their callsign, relative altitude, and possibly an indication of their ground track.

[Teemu Pienimaki 828685 0]

I mostly meant bringing VATSIM traffic to Navigation Display, not sure was this done via FSUIPC on FS2004 for example though?

Also, I bet the future of vPilot is to integrate it into the FS2020 custom toolbar, so no additional app needed to run anymore...

By the way, IDENT button on G1000 didn't effect on vPilot IDENT button, not sure should it? Mode STANDBY and C are working fine though.

[Ross Carlson 152]

3 hours ago, Teemu Pienimaki 828685 said:

I mostly meant bringing VATSIM traffic to Navigation Display

That's not something that I have control over. That would be up to the developer of the aircraft.

3 hours ago, Teemu Pienimaki 828685 said:

By the way, IDENT button on G1000 didn't effect on vPilot IDENT button, not sure should it?

Not yet. I am waiting to hear back from the Asobo devs about how to read when the pilot presses the ident button.

[Ross Carlson 152]

I heard back from Asobo today, they are going to add a SimConnect variable for ident, so hopefully after the next MSFS update, I'll be able to add ident button support to vPilot.