MCPPRO LNAV and Q400

dave39

Hi,
Am using the downloaded software for the MCPPRO (Slayer's work) and am very pleased with the progress in functionality that this has given me. I am wondering about the functionality of the LNAV and the VOR LOC buttons. Everything works fine but my issue surrounds the HEADING buttons. The HDG  button works, the heading dial works with push button for HSI select.
Currently, I get no response from either the LNAV or VORLOC buttons. The .jpg that comes with the software does not show either of these buttons with a function so I guess I am asking if they should be working? When I look under the MCPPRO tab of GFIT, it shows the output for the LNAV button as AP_NAV_SELECT_SET and  for the VORLOC button _NO_EVENT. On my system, the light is on all the time on the APP button.
I am guessing that these buttons haven't been added yet and I understand the inconsistency issues with lights for the APP button.
It would be great if they could be added to help with the transition from VNAV to VORLOC to APP for landing and the transition from HDG select to LNAV during departure.
Any comments/advice appreciated.
Regards
Dave

Slayer

I was thinking of assigning the Nav button to the LNAV and BC to VOR/LOC but I seem to have forgotten to do it before I released the profile. AP_NAV_SELECT_SET was just in there because it was default( I didn't set it to _NO_EVENT - which you should do for unused buttons)

Edit: the NAV and BC buttons are in the profile, I think those MCP mappings were actually lost when I had a crash on GIT. I reverted to an earlier save and forgot to set them up again.

Anything else you would like to see?

I'll probably release a new version soon but wanted to get some more functions into the profile first.

Slayer

If you don't want to wait just assign the MCPPro LNAV  ON position the bespoke even MJC_AFCS_NAV, leave the OFF to nothing(the same keypress toggles between LNAV and WING level in the aircraft). There is no light for it because the button doesn't light up in the real thing it just shows LNAV on the display...

dave39

Hey Slayer,
Thanks for the reply. Just set the LNAV as you instructed so I'm going to do a flight and see how it goes. The MCPPRO is working great for me. The AP is offering everything I need.
The button I was working on last night was the TOGA button on the side of #1 Throttle handle. If I could get that to work, my takeoffs would be totally "mouse free"!
I was trying to set it up with the MJC_VAR READ/WRITE CODE/ VALUE  LVARS but wasn't having any luck. I was using code 27120 which I got from the little conversion software program.
I have my doubts that I was on the right track because it appears to be just a mouse click. When I look at the mouse clicks though I just see all the .dll files so I was at a loss.
Thanks again for your great work trying to marry Goflight equipment with the Q400.
Dave

dave39

Hi again,
Forgot to mention that I have been also trying to figure out the NAV Source knob in the Q400
In the Bespoke events I see the MJC_Nav_Source_FMS1, FMS2, VOR1 and ILS2 but I can not figure out how to assign them to a Rotary knob on my RP48.
When I go through detective I see the Lvar : GS_NAV1_KNOB_ANGLE    Lvar Data: 7,14,21,28
I can see in the Bespokes have been created but they look quite complex.
Looking at the RP48R I don't know what to put into the Clockwise/counterclockwise to make this work.
I can't seem to find much in the manual about how to configure the rotary knobs or the RP48R.
Any clues on this would be great as well.
Thanks
Dave 

Slayer

Hey Dave, the TOGA button is easy You were on the right track. Here's what I use:

MCJ_VAR_WRITE_VALUE  = 1

MJC_VAR_WRITE_CODE = 27120

While your at it you might want to assign an AP disconnect button too, that one is already in the profile it is named MJC_AFCS_AP_disengage (thats the red button on the yoke)

That Nav source knob was a big headache for me as I had to make it work an unconventional way, since there are only 4 positions I made a bespoke for each setting and then put each position as a position on the rotary switch of the EFIS. I had to account for the previous position so I could tell if the know was turning CW or CCW. At first I tried to do it using the IAS/MACH rotary but I eventually gave up on that and hacked it into the EFIS.

Bottom line is I couldn't make it work on a dial that had no mechanical stops. I'm sure there is a way to do it I just didn't want to spend 2 days trying to figure it out :P

The rotary's on RP48 seem better suited for radios, alt selectors etc where the knob is able to spin endlessly in either direction and the aircraft software determines the stops. I'll take a look at it again and see what I can do but no promises.I think I could find the mouse event and then just send it a left or right click and your problem would be solved very fast....It's just that there are literally hundreds of mouseclick events...nearly a thousand I think.

I posted this before but mousclicks are very easy you just send one of those mouse click events and  pick either a left or right mouseclick. It's a process fo trial and error though because you have to watch and listen on the screen for what they do, a lot of them you can tell by the name at least the area of the cockpit you are poking around in for instance a mouseclick named CptPanel tells me it's on the captains side and one of his panels.

The quickest way to sniff out mouse events is make a dummy bespoke event for testing and jjust reuse it over and over for testing diff. mouse clicks with the test button on the bottom of the detective. if you look in my besopke events there is one called MJC_ABC_TEST...that's what I used it for,

I started a spreadsheet of mouseclicks you can pick through 

HERE

The number in the spreadsheet corresponds to the number you see in the detective

Slayer

Actually I just found Nav source really fast...it's mouse click 6. send it MOUSE_FLAG_LEFTSINGLE and MOUSE_FLAG_RIGHTSINGLE.

You need 2 bespokes one for sending it the left and one for the right then assign them to CW and CCW of the rotary and you're all set.

dave39

Wow thanks for all of this Slayer.
Will get to work on implementing this and let you know how it goes.
I hope the folks at Goflight realize what you / Pollypot are doing for them!
Couple thousand dollars of goflight equipment was starting to collect dust before I found this software!
THANKS!
Dave
PS. LNAV works like a charm now! Thanks!

dave39

Hi Slayer,
All was successful! TOGA functional. NavSource functional on RP48 knob.
Just so I have this straight, if I go through the mouse clicks one by one, using something like your test bespoke name, I should be able to find things like the 4 APU push buttons?
If so, do you want me to let you know for your spreadsheet if I find any that aren't on your list?
Thanks again for all this.
Dave

dave39

Hi Slayer,
Went through a bunch of mouse clicks that I will compare to your list and let you know if I uncovered any new ones.
Really thought I should have been able to figure this one out but no luck so I will ask yet another question.
I found the mouse clicks for the APU;

163 = APU POWER
164 = APU START
165 = APU Generator
166 = APU Bleedair

I set them all up on a P8 and the buttons turn them all on, BUT........ I can't for the life of me figure out how to push the buttons again to shut them off! Tried a whole bunch of combinations.

I found OHD_APU_PUSHBUTTONS in the LVARS and tried to work with that as well. The LVAR value when I click on APU bleedair to shut if off gave a value of 5. Couldn't get that to help out either.
So asking for your advice yet again.
Thanks
Dave 

dave39

Still trying to figure this one out. I noticed that when you set up NAV Source the "send XXX with", values change;
Send 6 with 536870912  for CCW
Send 6 with -2147483648 for CW

When I set up the APU buttons all mouse clicks have the same "send xxx with" value to turn them on, ie: Send XXX with 536870912
I also noticed that 536870912 x -4 = -2147483648. Hmmm, relevant?
So I need to figure out how to enter the value to shut them off?
Still stumped!
Dave

Slayer

Ok 6 is the number of the mouse event that you see in the detective mousevents. The other number computes to a left single click and a right single click. WHen you pick left or right click or whatever in the dropdown , the code it spits out is that number.

in the case of a button most times it's either a momentary pushbutton or left click on , left click off. Some switches are left click on right click off. Just mess around with it in the VC to see what the button or dial accepts with your mouse, don't get wrapped up in the numbers..

Slayer

 With your APU you have to push the start button twice. You still have to follow the logic of what it does in the VC. As I said think of it as you are in the VC clicking it with your mouse, whatever you have to do there is what you have to send that mouse event, some dials let you use the scroll wheel on your mouse too, each click of the wheel. Experiment is all I can say.

It also seems if you are trying to do your start sequence all off of one button you will need to insert a wait after you push the start button , then the little lights in the VC go through their self check, then another wait after the start button is pushed the second time while the APU spools up before you turn on gen and bleeds

I usually start with a running aircraft so hadn't thought of doing an automated startup or I use FS2crew if I want to do full procedures.

dave39

Great thanks! Just thought I was missing something!
I'll keep tinkering.
Dave

wayne

Not sure if this is the right place to post this. Is there a profile for the xplane flyjsim Dash Q400 wayne

wayne

Just looking to get my flyjsim Q400 working with my MCP PRO and EFIS Wayne

dave39

Hi Wayne,
This thread is using GIT with FSX. Sorry I have no experience with Xplane.

Regards
Dave

wayne

Ok, thanks Dave Wayne