SlaveBoard

[JosephHallenbeck]

Hello,
I would like to thank you for make a ViLA. I am trying use it but I've found problem. I am unable to solve the problem about programming Slave Board LEDs. I've got Mongoose T-50-CM3 by Virpil with Control Panel #2 as a slave board (connected by AUX port with CM3). My json for F-14 DCS module looks like:

{
    "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/charliefoxtwo/ViLA/main/Configuration/Schema/ActionConfiguration.json.schema",
    "devices": 
	{
        "8194": 
				{
					"OnBoard": 
								{
									"3": 
										[
											{
												"color": "FF0000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																"value": 1,
																"comparator": "EqualTo"
															}
											},
											{
												"color": "000000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																"value": 0,
																"comparator": "EqualTo"
															}
											},
										],
								},
					"SlaveBoard": 
								{
									"3": 
										[
											{
												"color": "FF0000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"value":
																			[
																				{		
																					"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																					"value": 1,
																					"comparator": "EqualTo"
																				}
																			],
																"comparator": "And"
															}
											},
											{
												"color": "000000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"value":
																			[
																				{		
																					"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																					"value": 0,
																					"comparator": "EqualTo"
																				}
																			],
																"comparator": "And"
															}
											}
										]					
								}
				},
 }
}

The problem is, that no LED is flashing on Control panel #2 when Master caution switch is flashing in F-14 cockpit. On the throtlle board LED number 3 flashing. I can't see where is the problem. I've checked LEDs at VPC programming software and every LED on Conttrol board # 2 is ok. So can anyone help me find a problem in my json please?

Thank you for your answer.

[charliefoxtwo]

I'd start by checking how your device is configured in the VPC Configuration Tool. Virpil has this really annoying thing where if you have the LEDs turned off, then they won't get turned on by ViLA. However, if you have them set to black, then they'll still appear off, but other software will be able to control them.

Make sure your LEDs are configured like this image first

You might also test without the comparator - it looks like your slave board triggers all have a comparator while your onboard triggers don't. Maybe try copying the onboard triggers directly for a more apples-to-apples comparison.

I'll also note that I generally don't recommend using slave boards with this tool. Virpil's firmware is very slow to deliver LED updates to slave devices, and unless they've fixed it, especially for something that is flashing it will generally pretty bad on a slave board.

[JosephHallenbeck]

I used this code without success:

{
    "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/charliefoxtwo/ViLA/main/Configuration/Schema/ActionConfiguration.json.schema",
    "devices": 
	{
        "8194": 
				{
					"OnBoard": 
								{
									"3": 
										[
											{
												"color": "FF0000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																"value": 1,
																"comparator": "EqualTo"
															}
											},
											{
												"color": "000000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																"value": 0,
																"comparator": "EqualTo"
															}
											}
										]
								},
					"SlaveBoard": 
								{
									"4": 
										[
											{
												"color": "FF0000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																"value": 1,
																"comparator": "EqualTo"
															}
											},
											{
												"color": "000000",
												"trigger": 
															{
																"id": "PLT_MASTER_CAUTION",
																"value": 0,
																"comparator": "EqualTo"
															}
											}
										]
								}
				}
 }
}

I tried also slave board as standalone board with slightly modified code and led flashed without problems.

[JosephHallenbeck]

I tested your SampleSettings.json under newest firmwares from Virpil and It doesn't work also. The master board LEDs work perfectly, but SlaveBoard LEDs doesn't blink. So I rolled out to the older Firmware (20220623) and "OnBoard" and "SlaveBoard" SampleSettings.json works perfectly for Master and Slave panel.
So Virpil had to change something around "OnBoard" and SlaveBoard" in the newest firmwares. So the problem is not in my configuration but in the newest firmwares.

[charliefoxtwo]

Hm, interesting. That's certainly a possibility. I don't know when I'll have time to look into this and figure out what they did... Especially since I don't have my hardware configured in slave mode anymore.

[JosephHallenbeck]

I tested it a bit more with your SampleSettings.json and found that the last working firmware is under VPC Software Setup Version: [20240814].
Newer firmware versions no longer work with ViLA ("Master/Slave configuration) because the firmware version associated with VPC Software Setup Version: [20241226] changes the “LED indications commands and controls,” as stated by Virpil here:
https://support.virpil.com/en/support/solutions/articles/47001269746-vpc-software-setup-version-20241226-
but LEDs on "OnBoard" still work perfectly. Only LEDs on "SlaveBoard" don't work in "Master/Slave" configuration.
I quess, The tag “SlaveBoard” was likely replaced with something like "Slave1"," Slave2", "Slave3", "Slave4", or something similar, but don't know how to find out.

The Firmware linked with VPC Software Setup Version: [20250313] also introduces an automatic OUT/AUX protocol detection for panels and pedals which could probably influences the ViLA functionality also.

[charliefoxtwo]

"SlaveBoard" is just a construct defined in my code. It gets translated into bytes that get sent to the device. If it doesn't work anymore, it's because under that firmware version the device doesn't handle the byte packet the same way.

I'll have to open up wireshark and use the LED test tool again to figure out what the new packet structure looks like.

[JosephHallenbeck]

Thank you for explanation. I don't understand how the software works. :-)

[JosephHallenbeck]

Hello Charlie Fox Two, did you figure out what the new packet structure is?