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P3D v4 All control surfaces "snap" back to neutral when close to max deflection

M

MarkEd

Messages
16
Country
us-washington
I converted an FSX model to P3d using MCX, (no issues/warnings in its log). I've done this with other craft, so I know that MCX and the conversion process is not an issue. All my other aircraft in P3d work fine so I know there is nothing wrong with my sim or hardware.

My problem is when I see this one particular model in P3d, all's well and the animations/gear/engine blur etc. are all working, EXCEPT that ALL control surfaces (ailerons, elevator, rudder, flaps) work perfectly in one direction, but when they are moved in their opposite direction everything's OK until about 80%(guessing this) deflection in that opposite deflection. If the surface continues to be deflected even higher than 80% more, then it "snaps" back to its neutral position, and any more deflection animation action above 80% is not seen on the control surface (it just sits there at neutral). And when I slowly move the surface back from the 100% deflected point (now moving back towards the neutral position) at about that 80% level the surface (which was sitting at the neutral position) now "snaps" back to the 80% deflected position, and then works normally as I bring the surface further back to its neutral position. The maddening thing is that this is the case for every surface.

Here's what I've done to troubleshoot so far; using MCX imported the mdl, checked the animations using the slider, and all appears fine. Exported the mdl as a P3dv4 object file using MCX and looked at its animation file pair in a text editor. That's where I'm now stuck/stumped: When I look at the animation file, I can't see anything out of place (I've compared it to a 737 default working animation file) and it "looks" comparable/ok, but am not sure what I'm even looking for -- all the neg params seem to be in the right place etc.

Anyone have any ideas why all the control surfaces are snapping to neutral as they are almost fully deflected)?

Here's how the surfaces are currently behaving: The Elevator fully deflects as expected in the nose up position, but snaps to neutral when deflected above 80% in the nose down position. The Ailerons work ok to port, but snap above 80% deflection on the starboard side; the flaps snap above 80% extension; the rudder deflects nose left OK, but snaps if deflected past >80% nose right. BTW, the aircraft BEHAVES fine even while the surfaces all act weirdly. (which I know is expected but just saying in case anyone is wondering)

Ideas? suggestions please?
 
DaveWG

DaveWG

Messages
244
Country
england
Yes, I've had this too. What I did to fix it was change the animation tags with the animation editor in MCX.
If you look at the elevator for example, it will probably use "elevator_percent_key". Change it to "elevator_key" and you should be OK.
 
M

MarkEd

Messages
16
Country
us-washington
Thanks for the responses, been out I bit, not ignoring this.

Lionheart: , re calibrating did nothing -- did'nt think it would since everything else is working perfectly, but gave it a shot anyway. No effect.

Dave: My animation file did have percent_key and I changed them to just _key. But, your next instruction has me blocked: You said "change the animation tags with the animation editor in MCX".

Here's what I did and the results:
If I open the mdl in mcx, (after fixing and saving the animation file as above) I can't see a way to "change" the animation tag assignment that shows up in the sim. How is that done? I can see the new animation tags in the Assign Animation Type drop down that were changed in the animation file (the ones without the "percent" in the names) but what are the MCX steps to make the tags changes in the MDL using MCX? What I did below just resulted in all the attempted changes to just stop working.

Here's what I did that I thought was following to "change the animation tags with the animation editor in MCX", but as you can see from #7 below, I'm obviously missing something because it did not work -- all the changed animations stopped working.
1) In the animation editor in MCX, I can now see (as an example) "elevator_key" in the Assign Animation Type drop down. So I know the MCX is picking up the changes in the animation file
2) If I then select the elevator_key tag from the Assign Animation Type drop down, then...
3) ...use the Select none button to un check everything, then...
4) ...select only the "elevator_percent_key"params that I want to change to the chosen "elevator_key" in the drop down selected in the Assign Animation Tag window, then...
5) ...click Fix Selected Animations, then...
6)... MCX does its thing and the elevator_key tags then disappear from the animation editor list. I believe this is expected behavior according to the videos Arno has. Then...
7) ... If I recompile the MDL (no errors) and look at the recompiled model in P3d, all my elevator animations (which used to previously work but with the snap animation) now just don't work AT ALL.

I'm obviously missing some step here. Help please?
Thanks!!
 
DaveWG

DaveWG

Messages
244
Country
england
Do not click the "Fix selected animations" box, that freezes the animation at that keyframe, and you'll loose the animation!

OK, this is the method.

1: Open the model in MCX, and open the animation editor.
2: In the text box next to "Select Name Containing:" type "elevator_percent_key" then click the "Select Name Containing" box.
3: In the list of animations, only those with the "elevator_percent_key" tag should be selected.
4: In the drop-down box next to "Assign animation type" select "elevator_key".
5: click the "Assign animation type" box.
6: Repeat with ailerons & rudder if necessary.
7: Export the model.
 
M

MarkEd

Messages
16
Country
us-washington
Yep, that was it.
Thanks Dave!!

So a follow on question -- I'm not happy with the animation. (degrees of deflection etc.) so I can fiddle around with the animation file params, which is fragile and ir very painful to constantly check to see a result of a change only after recompiling and reloading the model in the sim... long and tedious/frustrating comes to mind
Or..?
Is there a WYSIWYG animation tool/s that I one can use to more visually change the animation of various controls of the model (all I have is the mdl file obviously) more easily? I've gone though the MCX help file, but am I missing some sort of MCX functionality/capability that already does this and so I don't have to manually fiddle around with the text params in the animation file ? (using MCX v 1.4.00c4e4ecf0dev5/24/2018 btw) Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated.
 
DaveWG

DaveWG

Messages
244
Country
england
Not easily. You could write a custom xml animation tag that modifies the deflection output and use that instead, but I don't know of an easy way to alter the animation itself.
 
n4gix

n4gix

Resource contributor
Messages
11,674
Country
unitedstates
DaveWG said:
Yes, I've had this too. What I did to fix it was change the animation tags with the animation editor in MCX.
If you look at the elevator for example, it will probably use "elevator_percent_key". Change it to "elevator_key" and you should be OK.
Click to expand...
That's decidedly odd. The only difference between the two is that elevator_key returns the value in gradians and elevator_percent_key returns the value as a percentage... :scratchch
 
kalong

kalong

Messages
896
Country
indonesia
I had that problem on my aircraft, it happen on rudder pedal.
I can solved it (not publish yet) by:

original
Code: 
    <PartInfo>
        <Name>rudder_percent_key</Name>
        <AnimLength>100</AnimLength>
        <Animation>
            <Parameter>
                <Sim>
                    <Variable>RUDDER DEFLECTION PCT</Variable>
                    <Units>percent</Units>
                    <Bias>50</Bias>
                </Sim>
            </Parameter>
        </Animation>
    </PartInfo>

modified
Code: 
    <PartInfo>
        <Name>rudder_percent_key</Name>
        <AnimLength>100</AnimLength>
        <Animation>
            <Parameter>
                <Code>(A:RUDDER DEFLECTION PCT, percent) 100 + 2 /</Code>
                <Lag>50</Lag>
            </Parameter>
        </Animation>
    </PartInfo>
 
DaveWG

DaveWG

Messages
244
Country
england
Thanks for that, I'll try that later.
I'm sure it used to work correctly, but at some point something changed. Wonder if it's the change to 64bit causing a rounding error or overflow in the compiler or maybe the sim?
 
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