SDK Release 0.23.1

Bug Reports SDK: Tools/Samples/Documentation
1

Release note announcement on the MSFS forum states (among many other things) that:

SimVars

  • Added simvars AIRCRAFT_AGL and AIRCRAFT_ALTITUDE_ABOVE_OBSTACLES
    Aircraft editor
  • Added an option to delete a parameter from the cfg file, or to reset it to its default value
  • Added rotation Gizmo
  • Added new parameters
  • Added expert Mode to the editor. Expert Mode eliminate all constraint on the editor regarding conditional fields, required parameters or array sizes. Only already existing parameters and modified parameters are saved. This mode allows for greater flexibility of the editor but require more knowledge on how to configure an aircraft.
  • Made NdArrays more flexible, avoid writing too much data per line.
  • Fixed ctrl+f focus that would not focus parameters properly
  • Fixed unwanted or incorrect changes when saving a file in the editor

I can find no mention of the 2 SimVars mentioned on the top line in the on-line SDK documentation. Is there a further SDK update to follow, or have I just missed where they are??

2

Update to this. I have tried both of those new SimVars in SimConnect ‘as written’ (but with the underscores replaced by SPACE), and they both appear to work OK.

They are not settable

3

Hello @DeadCertainty

It has not made its way in the SDK documentation yet but this is in our to do list.

Both altitudes are returned in feet, but only AIRCRAFT_AGL does not take objects into account.

Regards,
Sylvain

4

The SimVars work OK using a variety of units of distance measure other than ‘feet’ and they all return values I would expect.

So it’s not really a ‘bug’ but more a ‘TODO’ to add these to the documentation

‘AIRCRAFT ALTITUDE ABOVE OBSTACLES’ returns the same result as ‘PLANE ALT ABOVE GROUND’ which was introduced a few releases back. Is there supposed to be a difference?

Out of interest, why does an aircraft sitting on the ground with its wheels down, not return ‘0’ as the answer? Are the calculations done using CofG as a reference?

5

AIRCRAFT ALTITUDE ABOVE OBSTACLES is basically an alias with a more appropriate name. It’s computed slightly differently but there should not be much difference in the end.

This needs to be confirmed but I think the altitude is measured from the aircraft “centre” (meaning 3d model 0,0,0 position).
When testing, moving the datum or empty CG position around shows the returned altitude matches the model position.

Regards,
Sylvain