C400 vs. Falcon (and perhaps others?)

[ansorgj]

hello,

I run into another issue with the C400 and wonder whether anybody can try to reproduce this:

I fly the C400 (or simply load it) and then put it to rest, turn off engines, turn down the lights and turn off avionics switches and battery.

Then I load the Falco, turn on Battery, start the engines, turn on avionics switch and all instruments: the instruments remain dark. Looking closer at the GPS unit, I can see that it goes from the photograhic picture with the light reflection to completely dark.

So I reloaded the C400 again, turned on everything and loaded the Falcon, this time the instruments light up after switching them on.

Seems reproducible here, anybody else care to try this?

Jens

[Cameron]

Hi, Jens,

For aircraft that use 3D lights, X-Plane remembers the last light setting from the previous aircraft.

[ansorgj]

So, it's an x-plane bug?

Since the aircrafts are already using plug-ins, could they perhaps take care for themselves that the electronic stuff works as intended? 

[Cameron]

Hi, Jens,

I'm not sure if Laminar considers it a bug.

There are a number of lights available to use in X-Plane, however, almost everyone uses the same numbered light value for their instruments or gauges. As such, the setting flows over to whatever you load next.

I'm pretty sure we had looked into this in the past (hence the reason I know what's happening), as we noticed this prior to release of another product. However, I don't believe there was a work around programmable at the time.

I may have to revisit it, but the simple answer is what's been said...X-Plane saves the last light values unless the sim is exited.

If you're talking about the Falco and not the Falcon, then you should be able to just up the lights from the rheostat if the lights are dimmed down too much (or off for that matter).

[ansorgj]

I'm talking about the Sequoia Falco.

with a clean start it looks like this

coming from the C400, everything left turned on and Lights full bright I get this in the Falco.

The GPS is actually brighter than before.

Again, coming from the C400. Have not changed the light settings in the C400 but turned avionics and battery off I get this in the Falco

then you should be able to just up the lights from the rheostat if the lights are dimmed down too much

If by rhetostat you are talking about the two knobs on the left in the Falco cockpit, those change only the ambient light. They do not seem to change the brightness of the LCD display/GPS?

Are there some other knobs I'm missing?

[ansorgj]

Some time ago I asked about a similar issue with the SeaMax http://forums.x-pilot.com/index.php?topic=608.msg4825#msg4825. After posting this question It seemed to have solved itself magically.

But right now after toying with C400 and Falco, I cannot get the GPS in the SeaMax to work and the transponder cannot get turned on.

Now, I quit and restart X-Plane (with SeaMax loaded), turn on the battery and all works fine again.

Having to restart X-Plane to switch aircraft is not that big issue but somewhat annoying nevertheless

Some weird things are going on here ... good luck figuring out solutions

Jens

[Cameron]

Hi, Jens,

Yes, this is exactly what I was speaking of.

A little clarification:

The rheostat in the Falco will not adjust the brightness of the Garmin. This will only work for products like the Reality XP Garmin.

For the default Garmin shipped with the Falco, SeaMax, and generics used on the C400, any brightness levels are saved just the same.

Again, you'll need to make adjustments to these prior to loading a new aircraft, or by restarting sim.

This is an X-Plane problem, and not something to do with our products. It goes for any aircraft using the same numbered light as the previous you had opened.

If you wish, you can report your findings to Laminar and discuss it further.

[tkyler]

it's a lighting rheostat issue.  It IS an x-plane problem, but I workaround this since I use a plugin.  The 1.2 update fixes the issue, but is no guarantee that others' won't handle their business in the future.

EDIT:

The fix for developers is to iterate through and set every light level in the light array datarefs explicitly on loading your aircraft...and THEN...when unloading the aircraft (on XPluginStop), you reset the light levels in all the arrays again back to "default values"...which is 0.75 across the board.  This way, if a user changes the light levels on some instruments in an aircraft...the next aircraft will not suffer from the previous aircraft's light levels as set by the user.

[JGregory]

Jens,

As Tom has pointed out the lights are not reset automatically by X-Plane.  Therefore these values need to be reset by the plugin of the current aircraft when you choose to open/select a new aircraft that does not control the lighting values on startup.  Apparently Tom has already done this with the Falco.  Also, you should have no problem going from any other aircraft to the C400 as all instrument and panel lights are controlled/set by the C400 plugin.  I will also modify the C400 plugin to reset the panel and instrument lights to 0.75 when you are going from the C400 to any other aircraft.

Thanks for the input.

Jim

[ansorgj]

you should have no problem going from any other aircraft to the C400

yes, this way round is working fine.

thank you all for listening.

looking forward to the coming updates :-)

EDIT

What do you think about the GPS in the SeaMax, that sometimes becomes completely inoperative?

Similar issue that would get fixed by your plugin modifications?

Jens

[JGregory]

you should have no problem going from any other aircraft to the C400

yes, this way round is working fine.

thank you all for listening.

looking forward to the coming updates :-)

EDIT

What do you think about the GPS in the SeaMax, that sometimes becomes completely inoperative?

Similar issue that would get fixed by your plugin modifications?

Jens

Jens,

I will be modifying the C400 plugin so that when you are using the C400 you can select any aircraft and you will have no problems with the lighting. 

I'm not sure about the SeaMax, you may need to ask Javier.

There may also be issues with the battery/avionics if they are modified by a plugin.  Tom asked me about this and I think he is looking into it further.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Jim

[ansorgj]

hi,

Just installed the 1.1 update. I fired up x-plane and did load the C400 to check it out. Then I went back to the Falco 1.2. Turn on battery and avionics, then the GPS: pitch-black :-(

Would be cool if at least all x-aviation products played well together, there is still some room for improvement :-)

Jens

[JGregory]

hi,

Just installed the 1.1 update. I fired up x-plane and did load the C400 to check it out. Then I went back to the Falco 1.2. Turn on battery and avionics, then the GPS: pitch-black :-(

Would be cool if at least all x-aviation products played well together, there is still some room for improvement :-)

Jens

Jens,

I'm not sure what's happening with that.  The C400 now resets all cockpit lighting to 0.75 (default) on unload of the aircraft, so we may have to wait and see what Tom says about this.

It's really not an x-aviation products problem as this will happen with any X-Plane add-on aircraft with plugin control of the lighting if they do not set the lighting on load and unload of the aircraft. 

Jim