Ideal Flight Accessibility phase 3

[Orinks]

Hello everyone,

This is the official topic for Ideal Flight accessibility phase 3 development.

Originally I was going to suggest more flight assist features, but Talking Flight Monitor C Sharp has come so far, so I don't want to suggest IF features that will copy the TFM stuff.

That said, I'd still be interested to see how an IF autotaxi would work. Also, the sounds feature I had suggested a while back where ILS glideslope alive/locked and localizer lock can have their own sounds, similar to the guitar plucks etc to be used when AP is off.

What I don't understand though is my Windows API speech stop working randomly only with Ideal Flight. I could load up Ideal Flight and go to the voice settings page and speech doesn't say "voice settings page" even with the voice enabled. If I then restart IF, and go to voice settings page speech then says the prompt.

I don't think it's an IF bug, but I'd hate to reformat Windows just to fix it since Sapi is internal to Windows now.

[Steve Waite]

IF initializes SAPI for each phrase - it is a completely separate exe which is launched and closed for each phrase. It is not subject to whether IF is running or not, it is separate and works without IF installed. IF sends a command line that starts SAPI with the phrase, voice, volume and speed each time and the SAPI interface is started each time with the same settings.

You could test with another output device for speech and see if it stays put, that would indicate another system is introducing problems into the device mixer or blocking other SAPI sessions. Try to find out at which point in the flight the IF speech does not reach the volume level and have a think what happens prior to losing voice. I'll need to recreate it to help problem solve on that.

I've tried to keep IF plucks and tones sounds different to the other app so that both can be used if desired. I have the ILS/LOC sounds on the todo list. These would work instead of speaking and so will be heard over the speaking, those sounds not needing a cleared phrase.

[Orinks]

How do I use the Sapi commands to try to troubleshoot this for you, to get volumes etc?

[Steve Waite]

It is the Windows Speech API which you would normally use in a C++ application and make calls that set voice, volume, speed, etc.

The speech in Ideal Flight is made by setting command line parameters on the codelegend speech module clsp.exe. This exe is protected with a cipher so that only Ideal Flight can operate it.

To problem solve you would use the process of elimination. With Ideal Flight speech enabled and speaking, eliminate the use of certain other programs until the problem goes away. I and others have been testing this and there has been no change in the speech output from the system after many hours of use. If another program running subsequently affects the speech output from clsp.exe it might happen fairly soon.

[Steve Waite]

Regarding sound settings: In the simulator sound settings I have all sounds set to around 15% volume, and the Ideal Flight voice set to 100% volume on speaker device and the Ideal Flight interface sounds volume (Other Settings page) set to 70%. The simulator sounds are set to the actual speaker device rather than the default sounds device. This way the sound mixer always maintains the volumes of all sounds on that channel.

[Steve Waite]

Development has been slowed for a few weeks due to other engagements but is more or less back on track now. So I've been improving the sounds for next update since the original sounds were a bit rushed, and I'm also including sounds for LOC/ILS capture with options.

I'll be looking through the SAPI implementation again to make sure it is working as well as can be done. It is more advanced and complicated than most solutions, for example, choosing cores away from the simulation. I know that there are various situations in the Windows sounds system that can put a spanner in the works. Just an idea, if in doubt about sounds, it might be a good idea to boot up Windows fresh, and also to avoid web pages with sounds before a long session of flying.

Guys, sales of Ideal Flight continue quite well, and with basically next to no issues reported at all. So I just wanted to add a massive thank you to Orinks and all the rest of you for helping with the project and also a special thank you for making others aware of the program.

[Steve Waite]

I have added drum sounds for capturing the Localizer and the Glideslope and are selectable in the Voice Items Selection checkbox window from the Voice Settings page.

Remember when going to make a selection, to first select the Quick Selection set that the setup will belong to, and after making a selection use the Install Selection button to save that selection into the Quick Selection set chosen.

I am wondering if there are any requests to break down those settings further or maybe add sounds to other functions. Any ideas are welcome...

[Steve Waite]

I have included the drum sounds for capture of Localizer and Glideslope.

Preview build 01:

Ideal Flight Professional P3D v4/5
Ideal Flight 10 Professional P3D v2/3
Ideal Flight 10 Special Edition
Ideal Flight 10 Original

Please see the report page for more details:
http://www.codelegend.com/idealflight/report.htm

[Steve Waite]

18/November/2020:

Latest IF versions include screen reader support and in-sim voice callouts by codelegend.com

Preview build 02:

Ideal Flight Professional P3D v4/5
Ideal Flight 10 Professional P3D v2/3
Ideal Flight 10 Special Edition
Ideal Flight 10 Original

Please see the report page for more details:
http://www.codelegend.com/idealflight/report.htm

[ke7zum]

I might not be around for testing much over the next 3 or so months. Without going into too much detail I'm studying for a test that will involve a lot of time on my hands. I'm loving the program, even though I have not yet tested the first preview of this phase for lack of a better term. Keep up the good work, and hope I can resume testing when I get my head out of testing materials. then we can see what I can brake, ur, I mean test. Keep it up. right now that's about all I have to say.