I've found that for some reason the F/O uses FMC one (Captain) to make his inputs even though I've programmed FMC two to be used in the scripts. The strange thing is that when I test scripts by clicking the button or test individual commands within the scripts, he uses his side's FMC (two) as he should. But when I set myself up like I normally do at the gate to do a normal flight he always uses FMC one despite what the scripts say. Any idea what is causing this?

Another thing is the 60 kts callout during rollout occurs right after the F/O's confirmation that the reversers are normal when I'm still at around 130 kts. The "one thousand to go" callout also only works during descent/approach.

MCE also reads out the degrees of pitch after takeoff during initial climb. How can I turn this off?

Thanks.

1 hour ago, threegreen said:

I've found that for some reason the F/O uses FMC one (Captain) to make his inputs even though I've programmed FMC two to be used in the scripts. The strange thing is that when I test scripts by clicking the button or test individual commands within the scripts, he uses his side's FMC (two) as he should. But when I set myself up like I normally do at the gate to do a normal flight he always uses FMC one despite what the scripts say. Any idea what is causing this?

Another thing is the 60 kts callout during rollout occurs right after the F/O's confirmation that the reversers are normal when I'm still at around 130 kts. The "one thousand to go" callout also only works during descent/approach.

MCE also reads out the degrees of pitch after takeoff during initial climb. How can I turn this off?

Thanks.

The pitch announcement is part of a feature aimed at the Blind Visually Impaired pilot community.

To disable it, right-click anywhere over MCE UI and de-select option "Use screen narrator".

Call-outs will be checked again.

As for FMC CDU, because the right CDU might not be powered, FO will use the left side one when he deems the situation waraants it.

Example, aircraft on battery.

 

Edited October 1, 20214 yr by FS++

1 hour ago, FS++ said:

The pitch announcement is part of a feature aimed at the Blind Visually Impaired pilot community.

To disable it, right-click anywhere over MCE UI and de-select option "Use screen narrator".

Call-outs will be checked again.

As for FMC CDU, because the right CDU might not be powered, FO will use the left side one when he deems the situation waraants it.

Example, aircraft on battery.

Thanks.

The F/O uses the left FMC all the time, no matter the situation. Aircraft is up and running with both FMCs powered, yet he reverts back to using fmc one even though the script says "fmc two press ...".

On 10/1/2021 at 8:06 PM, threegreen said:

Thanks.

The F/O uses the left FMC all the time, no matter the situation. Aircraft is up and running with both FMCs powered, yet he reverts back to using fmc one even though the script says "fmc two press ...".

OK, we'll see what can be done to increase his awareness.

22 hours ago, FS++ said:

OK, we'll see what can be done to increase his awareness.

Thank you.

On 10/3/2021 at 6:40 PM, FS++ said:

OK, we'll see what can be done to increase his awareness.

On my flight today he started by using FMC two correctly. At some point during flight however, in cruise or so, he started using FMC one again for some reason.

I also did as you suggested to turn off the screen narration by right clicking on the UI. It's turned off but MCE still reads out pitch during initial climb. Note that this is only during initial climb.

The F/O also doesn't recognize APU, probe heat, apu bleed air and battery switch positions during my shutdown checklist. He thinks they're on when they're all off and for the battery thinks it's off when it's on and asks me to double check the items and I have to tell him to skip the items to proceed with the rest of the checklist.

Edited October 7, 20214 yr by threegreen

13 hours ago, threegreen said:

On my flight today he started by using FMC two correctly. At some point during flight however, in cruise or so, he started using FMC one again for some reason.

I also did as you suggested to turn off the screen narration by right clicking on the UI. It's turned off but MCE still reads out pitch during initial climb. Note that this is only during initial climb.

The F/O also doesn't recognize APU, probe heat, apu bleed air and battery switch positions during my shutdown checklist. He thinks they're on when they're all off and for the battery thinks it's off when it's on and asks me to double check the items and I have to tell him to skip the items to proceed with the rest of the checklist.

Regarding "screen narrator"

It's usually a sign that somehow MCE isn't able to update "mce.ini" as a result of overriden folder permissions in C:\Users\.

When you do that, you can expect all sorts of weird things happening. "Silent failures" due to Windows objecting to this and that.

To fix it manually, go to C:\Users\your_user_name\AppData\Roaming\Multi Crew Experience\ folder. Open "mce.ini" and ensure

[OPTIONS]

UseNarrator=0

Nobody else reported issues with reading battery or apu state.

They are read using the PMDG SDK using Simconnect. And it's the PMDG plane itself that updates those values. We only read them. Switches manipulation happens via Events defined by PMDG and NOT by writing the var state directly.

The fact it's random (only happens occasionally) makes it very hard to troubleshoot. You would normally get that failure with all flows and in all flight phases.

And I recall you mentioning that some time ago with other switches.

Are you by any chance using a system tool called IOLO system mechanic?

 

4 hours ago, FS++ said:

[OPTIONS]

UseNarrator=0

Nobody else reported issues with reading battery or apu state.

Are you by any chance using a system tool called IOLO system mechanic?

The UseNarrator entry in the ini file is indeed set to 0 but pitch callouts during initial climb continue.

Yes, I reported some other items previously including these. I think MCE can read the status of the switches just fine since it generally works correctly. It's only during checklists that it keeps telling me to re-check the item. Another example is the speedbrake during landing checklist. The F/O reads "Speedbrake" but then disarms the speedbrakes and says "now set", even though he just disarmed them. When I just randomly tell him to arm the speedbrake he does so and can read its state correctly. I'm using a custom checklist, so maybe it's that, but the lines that don't seem to work correctly are pretty straight-forward like "probe heat" and I answer "off" and the checklist says "off" as well, but the F/O tells me to re-check. Most of it works though; it's anti-ice, probe heat, battery, APU switch, apu bleed air and speedbrake that don't work.

2 hours ago, threegreen said:

The UseNarrator entry in the ini file is indeed set to 0 but pitch callouts during initial climb continue.

Yes, I reported some other items previously including these. I think MCE can read the status of the switches just fine since it generally works correctly. It's only during checklists that it keeps telling me to re-check the item. Another example is the speedbrake during landing checklist. The F/O reads "Speedbrake" but then disarms the speedbrakes and says "now set", even though he just disarmed them. When I just randomly tell him to arm the speedbrake he does so and can read its state correctly. I'm using a custom checklist, so maybe it's that, but the lines that don't seem to work correctly are pretty straight-forward like "probe heat" and I answer "off" and the checklist says "off" as well, but the F/O tells me to re-check. Most of it works though; it's anti-ice, probe heat, battery, APU switch, apu bleed air and speedbrake that don't work.

May want to post your custom checklist as you never know with these.

With "strict checklist" option enabled, it is normal behaviour after FO challenges you a couple of times on a particular item, to try to set it as per checklist (assuming he can)

As for the state of items when commanded directly, would appreciate if 2 more users on NGXu in Prepar3D could confirm they notice that too, in which case it will be investigated.

I really don't undestand why you would get those pitch notifications. They can only happen when "screen narrator" is enabled or when for some reason speech command "read instruments aloud" is somehow recognized.

This rises the prospect that MCE may even be having trouble reading its own ini file.

If you have time, and assuming you didn't override folders permissions for the whole "C:\Users\" folder, may want to try this out.

Un-install MCE via Windows Control panel.

Create a new user account with admin privileges on your machine.

Switch to that account and keep everything to default settings.

Make no changes to folders permissions and keep Windows UAC at default 2 notches up the slider.

Re-install MCE to default path.

Since it's on a new user account, you will need to go through the wizard and perform basic speech training.

You'll get a fresh mce.ini (for the new user account) with default settings and a file to which MCE should have unrestricted access.

 

 

2 hours ago, FS++ said:

May want to post your custom checklist as you never know with these.

With "strict checklist" option enabled, it is normal behaviour after FO challenges you a couple of times on a particular item, to try to set it as per checklist (assuming he can)

As for the state of items when commanded directly, would appreciate if 2 more users on NGXu in Prepar3D could confirm they notice that too, in which case it will be investigated.

You'll get a fresh mce.ini (for the new user account) with default settings and a file to which MCE should have unrestricted access.

I'll send my checklist via PM since it's a real carrier's one and I don't know if I can share it publicly. What does the strict checklist option do anyway? I have it enabled as I thought it should be but I can't find any documentation on what it does. As for the bit about items commanded directly; not sure if what I meant came across properly. When the items I listed are commanded to the F/O randomly during flight he knows how to handle them. It's during the checklist when these particular items don't work right.

Edit: Can't send PM. Here's part of the shutdown checklist with multiple of the items that don't work too well.

[ ] APU bleed air switch            --    Off
[ ] External power                --    _
[ ] APU switch                    --    _
[ ] Fuel pumps                    --    Off
[ ] Battery switch                --    _

I'll try creating a new user account in the next few days or so when I fly again. However, if MCE couldn't read its own file wouldn't the screen narration occur during the entire flight rather than only for about 20 secs after liftoff?

Edited October 8, 20214 yr by threegreen

1 hour ago, threegreen said:

I'll send my checklist via PM since it's a real carrier's one and I don't know if I can share it publicly. What does the strict checklist option do anyway? I have it enabled as I thought it should be but I can't find any documentation on what it does. As for the bit about items commanded directly; not sure if what I meant came across properly. When the items I listed are commanded to the F/O randomly during flight he knows how to handle them. It's during the checklist when these particular items don't work right.

Edit: Can't send PM. Here's part of the shutdown checklist with multiple of the items that don't work too well.

[ ] APU bleed air switch            --    Off
[ ] External power                --    _
[ ] APU switch                    --    _
[ ] Fuel pumps                    --    Off
[ ] Battery switch                --    _

I'll try creating a new user account in the next few days or so when I fly again. However, if MCE couldn't read its own file wouldn't the screen narration occur during the entire flight rather than only for about 20 secs after liftoff?

Thanks for clarifying and for posting the checklist items giving you issues.

I already see potential for misunderstandings because you have the wildcard "_" as a reply. As a result, speech engine could report virtually anything, including words that have nothing to do with aviation.

Since replies are parsed for things such as "on", "armed", "off", "check", auto", "as required" etc... it would lead to unexpected behaviour.

For the APU switch , use "on", "off" o "as required" followed by "_" if you wish so at least Fo can see one of the expected replies. Do the same for batteries.

May want to refrain creating a new user account until this checklist challenge is resolved because it is definitely untested scenario.

The screen narrator (flight data report part) is only active when flying manually. It stops once autopilot is engaged as it has no purpose even for BVI pilots.

You'll still get other notifications such as "new ATC options" when these change inside the sim, and also a lot of chatter when moving the mouse around the user interface, explaining what evey button or option does..

18 hours ago, FS++ said:

May want to refrain creating a new user account until this checklist challenge is resolved because it is definitely untested scenario.

The screen narrator (flight data report part) is only active when flying manually. It stops once autopilot is engaged as it has no purpose even for BVI pilots.

You'll still get other notifications such as "new ATC options" when these change inside the sim, and also a lot of chatter when moving the mouse around the user interface, explaining what evey button or option does..

The original checklist says "as required" so I replaced that with __ to be able to answer according to the situation. I'll replace the entries in question as a test and report back.

The strange thing about the screen narration is that it's really only during 20 secs or so during initial climb. I usually fly manually until RVSM airspace and never hear any readouts after initial climb and also not when flying fully manually on approach and landing. With A/P on I also don't hear anything when moving the cursor. It's as if the narration feature is turned on only for initial climb and off during all other phases of flight (menu option turned off as well).

1 hour ago, threegreen said:

The original checklist says "as required" so I replaced that with __ to be able to answer according to the situation. I'll replace the entries in question as a test and report back.

The strange thing about the screen narration is that it's really only during 20 secs or so during initial climb. I usually fly manually until RVSM airspace and never hear any readouts after initial climb and also not when flying fully manually on approach and landing. With A/P on I also don't hear anything when moving the cursor. It's as if the narration feature is turned on only for initial climb and off during all other phases of flight (menu option turned off as well).

Even when "as required" is the typed reply, you can still reply ON (in which case FO has tonensure it is ON) or OFF (with the associated check)

The "_" causes the speech engine to switch to "Dictation mode". It is no longer reliably expecting specific words (as is the case with the "command and control" side of the recognizer, but would try to detect your speech as if you were dictating a letter. Dictation on Windows isn't reliable enough. You could end-up with totally unelated speech, like "my teacher got angry" or something. And since there would be non "on", "off" which are the expected states for battery, FO would be stuck and arguing a couple of times. He wouldn't even know to which state it sghould be set as there is no indication on the line.

That explains why you were having such a hard time with those specific items.

the "_" is better used on items where FO isn't expected to make accurate checks, something like stating V1, VR, V2 or other things. You could have a reply that includes both, say "on _" or "off _".

There is another voice command that BVI pilots use to get assistance with takeoff. Maybe it's triggered by accident.

If you see the FO pulling the stick on takeoff, then it's the feature in action.

Having said that, normally, those type of commands aren't even enabled, unless "mce.ini" shows.

[OPTIONS]

PilotIsBVI=1

In which case it assumes pilot could need the BVI related features. Ensure you have  PilotIsBVI=0 and hopefully won't get that anymore.

43 minutes ago, FS++ said:

Even when "as required" is the typed reply, you can still reply ON (in which case FO has tonensure it is ON) or OFF (with the associated check)

the "_" is better used on items where FO isn't expected to make accurate checks, something like stating V1, VR, V2 or other things. You could have a reply that includes both, say "on _" or "off _".

There is another voice command that BVI pilots use to get assistance with takeoff. Maybe it's triggered by accident.

If you see the FO pulling the stick on takeoff, then it's the feature in action.

In which case it assumes pilot could need the BVI related features. Ensure you have  PilotIsBVI=0 and hopefully won't get that anymore.

I replaced the _ for the items in question with as required and will check.

Actually, yes! I noticed the F/O pulling the yoke back on my last flight. I changed the ini file to show PilotIsBVI=0 and will check on my next flight.

Just completed a flight. Checklists works fine and I also don't get the screen narration on takeoff anymore. 🙂

The only thing still happening is the F/O sometimes switching FMCs. It usually happens when I command him to do his descent procedure.