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MtnFly avatar image
MtnFly asked Yoanito commented

Autopilot NAV Lock not Engaging

The autopilot nav lock on my aircraft has worked for some time now, but within the last several weeks, it will no longer engage. Playing around with different options, I finally got it to work again, but my solution is far from ideal. In order to get the nav lock to work, I displayed Simvar Watcher to verify that the variable "GPS DRIVES NAV1" is set to zero and then I temporarily repurposed another switch to first set that variable to 1. After verifying that the variable is 1, I hit the switch again to set it back to zero. After doing this, the nav lock works as expected for the remainder of the flight. I am not sure what is causing this. I looked through my systems.cfg and could not find any setting under autopilot that I thought would effect this nor do I have any other code interfering with this. Was there a recent change in how the nav lock works that I missed? I'm at a loss, anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

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Flysimware avatar image Flysimware commented ·

By default the GPS Drives nav1 should be zero.

If you do not use the fix switch and click the nav lock does GPS Drives nav1 change to a 1 ?

I have to say there is nothing wrong with this event and will be hard to help solve this and will need more info.


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Yoanito avatar image
Yoanito answered Yoanito commented

Hello @MtnFly

I tried to reproduced your issue but for me this variable work as intended, maybe the issue come from your package, you can send it to us and I will have a look at it to try to see where the problem may come from (see 3) provide private content).

Best regards,
Yohan

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MtnFly avatar image MtnFly commented ·

Yohan, Thank you for the reply. I did a little more digging and I did find the issue, sort of. In my panel.cfg, I have the following text block:

[VCockpit01]
 size_mm = 320,234
 pixel_size = 320,234
 texture = $AS530_Screen
 htmlgauge00 =NavSystems/GPS/AS530/AS530.html,0,0,320,234

When I have this block of code in panel.cfg, the NAV hold will not engage, but if I remove it, the NAV hold works again. My aircraft has analog instruments, but I inserted this this code for 2 reasons.

  1. The user will have the option to switch out a weather radar for the GNS-530, hence that code.
  2. My aircraft has a speed hold option in the autopilot and without the AS530 code, the FLC hold will not work as the aircraft porpoises uncontrollably. But with that code there, FLC works like a charm. Note, I really need both airspeed and MACH holds, but they will not turn on, only FLC seems to work. (This is my next issue I need to solve). But none the less, the AS530 code is the only way I can get the FLC to work.

The NAV hold has been working since day one and stopped working after AAU1 was released, after which I began to see the issue with the NAV hold. I am not sure if MS/Asobo will call this a bug or just take the stance of this not being supported (which I would understand). If I am not able to use the AS530 code, I do have the option of creating a second aircraft to select, which solves one part of this. The other issue is that I need the airspeed/MACH/FLC holds to function properly, but I am sure there is a more elegant solution to this then adding the AS530 code (if anyone knows of one, please share).

Anyway, I do have an aircraft version that displays the NAV hold issue and in the event that you would like to see what is happening, I will send you a private message with how to grab it.

Thank you

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Yoanito avatar image Yoanito MtnFly commented ·

Hello @MtnFly


We have tested your package on SU12, AAU1 and SU11 and the Nav Lock did engage as expected.

Maybe we are not understanding your issue? For you, "AUTOPILOT NAV1 LOCK" simvar is always set to 0?


Best regards,

Yohan

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MtnFly avatar image MtnFly commented ·

FYI, I am not sure why some of my message above was bolded. Ignore that.

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MtnFly avatar image MtnFly commented ·
Hello Yohan, I created a short video that I uploaded to Youtube. I will send the link to you in a private chat. In the video, I show that the AS530 is not in the panel.cfg and demonstrated that the NAV lock worked. I placed SimVar Watcher at the bottom of the screen for you to verify that the NAV lock did engage. The second flight, I rebooted MSFS and showed you that the AS530 was included this time, however, I clicked on the NAV button multiple times, and it did not engage.


Although this is an issue, my ultimate goal is to get the airspeed/MACH holds working which do not work (the aircraft porpoises uncontrollably up and down), but I was able to get the FLC hold to work as long as the AS530 is included (without the AS530, it porpoised again). The FLC working was a small win in my testing to ultimately get the airspeed hold working and I am going to open another post for that, but none the less, the NAV lock was an unfortunate casualty of that testing that only cropped up recently around the time of AAU1 release. Thank you.

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Yoanito avatar image Yoanito MtnFly commented ·

Hello @MtnFly


I did try to reproduce what you show us in the video with your package but not only my nav lock worked but the "GPS DRIVES NAV1" simvar worked too and it worked in a post AAU1 dev build as well as in a SU11 build.

Maybe this issue is coming from another of your package that conflicts with this aircraft.

I suggest you check that and maybe retest this issue when the SU12 flighting begin.

Best Regards,
Yohan

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