PLN file load in SU2 via the EFB webapp is still not working. I.e. a PLN file with waypoints in it is not making its way through to the GET_FLIGHTPLAN API. My most recent test had the departure and destination airports but not the intermediate waypoints.
Can we please (please) CHANGE STRATEGY in addressing this issue:
Re-enable the SimConnect_SubscribeToSystemEvent / FlightPlanActivated WHEN THE “Load PLN from PC” FILE IS SELECTED. That event should be given the ORIGINAL FILEPATH of the PLN file the user selected.
In prior versions of the sim (a) all the waypoints were passed to the API’s and (b) a simconnect app effectively had peer access to the file loaded by the PC user. Hopefully it’s clear any issue with (a) in MSFS2024 is significantly exacerbated by a failure in (b).
There’s an existing, documented simconnect API call that should fire when the PLN is loaded from the local PC. Before Working Title started working on the EFB app that is how every PLN file was loaded.
Why cant you just fix that? How do you justify breaking it?
It’s related to the GET_FLIGHTPLAN in that the FlightPlanActivated is the best alternative to GET_FLIGHTPLAN if that cannot be fixed and at this point it looks extremely difficult for Working Title to reliably read waypoints from a PLN file and put those same waypoints into the GET_FLIGHTPLAN waypoints array. The FlightPlanActivated event provides a vector by which we could work around the EFB issues and retain the ‘Load PLN’ button in the sim.
For the past several months we’ve been dropping the PLN onto a simconnect app which has no problem at all reading that file and creating the GET_FLIGHTPLAN waypoints array that the gauges can use. I don’t understand the difficulty Working Title have had but you can see in this situation it’s frustrating the EFB has essentially hijacked the ‘Load PLN’ button in the sim, i.e. it loads the file but won’t let any other app know the filepath and then fails to serve the data to the GET_FLIGHTPLAN API.
We’re all flying the same agreed task we ALL need to have the same flightplan loaded - this has not been possible in MSFS2024 since launch, so nominally our multiplayer flying has been dead in the water for the entire time MSFS2024 has been ‘live’. It’s only because we have a simconnect app that can load the PLN outside the sim and pass the waypoints data directly to the gauges that our multiplayer is possible - without that we’d necessarily still be flying in 2020.
With the FlightPlanActivated simconnect event working we could have the players use the ‘Load PLN’ button in the sim and otherwise not depend on the EFB. If WT can eventually fix the GET_FLIGHTPLAN call then that’s a plus, but ultimately the most valuable asset is the Load PLN button inside the sim.
The waypoints being missing in this legacy call is related to the issue introduced by Asobo here: Flight Plan Sync and GPS DRIVES NAV1. We have made them aware of the issue and our understanding is that they are working on a fix for SU3.
It hasn’t. The UI button is on the EFB, but the code to load the PLN is inside the sim, using the same C++ code path as before, with additional parsing. As such it is not clear to us why these SimConnect events are not firing, and we are still investigating. It may be related to changes made elsewhere in the sim by other teams for career mode, as the other teams made a number of changes regarding the legacy flight plan system unrelated to our limited EFB work; we would expect this event to be fired when one creates a flight plan on the world map by selecting an origin and destination as it does in 2020, but we do not see that event fire then either.
Can you check with the latest SU3 (1.5.4.0) if you are still missing your enroute waypoints in the GET_FLIGHTPLAN call? We understand from Asobo that this should be fixed now.
Feedback I have so far is the PLN load → GET_FLIGHTPLAN is kinda working in SU3 beta but (as has always been true in MSFS2024) is very vulnerable to which buttons the player clicks in the World Map / EFB / Flight Conditions screens.
I.e. in SU3 beta it seems possible to get the waypoints to appear with care:
“First I select the livery and tow method, then the flight conditions, then load pln to EFB , send to ATC and avionics, adjust time on the world map only, click Start Flight”
“you cannot go into the weather menu even to change the time, that has to be done from the map screen before pressing fly now”
So there are hints the load/API could work but there are codepaths that still blitz the loaded PLN data before you get onto the runway.
