Ideal Flight Accessibility phase 3

[Steve Waite]

If there is no joystick connected then there's nothing to do.

If there is a joystick connected then if there has been no input in FSX or P3D since it started, the first touch of a controller after the sim is running will send all the current positions of axis to the system. That will send for example zero throttle position which will be the same as moving the throttle which will mean for Ideal Flight to turn off the auto-throttle necessitating to press CTRL+SHIFT+S which will reassume the last auto-throttle setting.

[Steve Waite]

...Jogging an axis before flying is something I've done since first using these simulators with controllers.

For example, I have a throttle quadrant and yoke. If I have not already positioned the levers before starting the simulator, the first touch of the yoke causes the engines to suddenly assume the current throttle quadrant positions which disturbs the aircraft.

So to put it another way - if we have any joysticks or other controllers connected to FSX/P3D, the way the simulator works is to send all the current axis positions when we first press a button or move an axis after running the simulator up. This is how the simulator works with controllers.

Since Ideal Flight will be using the movement of the throttle as a signal to disengage the auto-throttle, if we have not yet touched a controller, that first touch will send the current throttle position through the system and Ideal Flight will see it as an input and will naturally disengage auto-throttle.

Let's say I start the simulator and get on with Ideal Flight doing its auto-throttle. At some point I jog a controller axis or press a button for the first time, this sends the current throttle axis through the system and Ideal Flight responds by disengaging auto-throttle.

What would be handy would be some way of knowing that this is merely the first time a controller has been used. If I make Ideal Flight ignore the first throttle movement and not respond then how would it know if this was indeed a legitimate movement of the throttle axis meant to disengage the auto-throttle.

[ke7zum]

I've been both sick for a few months and studying for a test. I'm still studying, however am feeling a lot better. What needs testing in this version I'm downloading now as of january 18, 2021? I don';t have my joystick connected at this point in time so what ever was discussed there cannot be tested on this machine.

Thanks so much, and have a happy monday.

[Orinks]

Are you working on a way for the aircraft to lift off automatically as well? With or without a joystick, sometimes the aircraft doesn't have V1/rotate/V2 callouts. Even if it does, when I use numpad 2 to virtually pull the yoke back, I always have trouble manually lifting off the ground because if I do it too much, I lift off but the pitch is too high and an overspeed/stall happens. If it's too little it won't lift off at all, even when setting some trim.

I don't enjoy so many automatic things but this is one of those things where if you do it wrong I have to reset and try again.

On a side note, I wish that when you reset the flightplan with the : key, IF could basically reset itself as well so you don't have to exit the flight and hit fly again and do that.

[ke7zum]

a few things very quickly,

1. the sounds like the "ding" and the "clicks" I hear when hitting enter are all in mono. is this the way it is supposed to be?

2. when I hit control shift f, then f4 from within the sim, the flight assistance window should come up. What happens instead is my throttle gos all the way forward. Is this an error on my part?

that's all I have right now. the install was smooth as butter and launch was quite fast.

Thanks.

[Steve Waite]

1. The dings are mono wavs (sound files) but they are presented across the stereo soundstage. With a mouse pointer clicking over on the right of the screen you should hear the ding toward the right hand side. If the I F window is spread across a small part of the screen then the soundstage is smaller so you might hear the dings closer together.

2. CTRL+SHIFT+F should raise the Ideal Flight window to the surface, check that with the menu item. If the I F window receives the next keyboard input then that will bring up the Assist window with F4 and the Voice window with F5, the menu with Escape. If the IF window is not on the surface, any subsequent key press is into the topmost window.

[Steve Waite]

Sorry, errors in that last post:

In 2. where I say "check that with the menu item" I mean that the CTRL+SHIFT+F key combination can be adjusted with the menu item "Set Hot Key: Surface Ideal Flight" - this menu item only shows when the simulator is running. And I meant to say the Assist window is F3 key not F5.

[ke7zum]

On a side note, I wish that when you reset the flightplan with the : key, IF could basically reset itself as well so you don't have to exit the flight and hit fly again and do that.

You can sort of already do this. Simply go to the sim menu, then in the main sim, click "restart flight monitor." it will then do just that. Not exactly a key, but it works. to reset the sim simply hit control semi from within the sim itself.

[ke7zum]

1. The dings are mono wavs (sound files) but they are presented across the stereo soundstage. With a mouse pointer clicking over on the right of the screen you should hear the ding toward the right hand side. If the I F window is spread across a small part of the screen then the soundstage is smaller so you might hear the dings closer together.

2. CTRL+SHIFT+F should raise the Ideal Flight window to the surface, check that with the menu item. If the I F window receives the next keyboard input then that will bring up the Assist window with F4 and the Voice window with F5, the menu with Escape. If the IF window is not on the surface, any subsequent key press is into the topmost window.

the sounds are for me in mono, they are coming from the center of my sound field. Also I forgot to add I use virtual desktops so IF is on desktop 1 whilest the sim is on desktop 3. Control shift f is not bringing the window into focus. Perhaps because I'm on a virtual desktop. Just my theory for now.

[ke7zum]

to add to the subject of the mouse, since most all of us do not use one, why that change in the first place? would it not be feezable instead to put something somewhere in settings to deal with the balance of the audio?