Settings¶
Everything is configured on the window's Settings view. There are no command-line options to learn and no files to edit.
Settings is one page that scrolls, in six sections, in the order a pilot uses them. A row of buttons stays at the top of the page: Your setup, How ATC sounds, X-Plane data, Your account, Appearance and Advanced. A button scrolls to its section, and the section you are looking at is the one marked.
At the bottom, Save and Revert. Save checks every field first. A bad value is highlighted, its section opens, and nothing is saved. With a flight under way, Save reconnects on the same flight with the new settings, waiting for ATC to finish talking first. Save never starts a flight. Revert reloads what was last saved.
Your setup¶
What you set on day one: your microphone and speakers, your push-to-talk button, and where X-Plane is.
Audio¶
| Setting | What it is |
|---|---|
| Use the microphone and speakers | Off: no microphone and no sound, for testing |
| Microphone, Speakers / headset | Your devices, or System default. A headset switched on after the client started appears after Refresh devices |
Push-to-talk¶
The window's button and the Space key always work. Also transmit with adds one more:
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| Only this window (button, or hold Space) | The button, or hold Space while the window has focus |
| A yoke or joystick button, through X-Plane | Hold the button to transmit, wherever the focus is |
For a yoke or joystick button, press Learn button, then press and release the button you want within 10 seconds. X-Plane must be running. The client reads the button through X-Plane, so anything X-Plane sees as a joystick button works. The client says "Learned button 5 and saved it" (with your button's number), and Button index shows it.
(When you run the client from a console window, there is a third choice, Enter in the console window (toggles). The installed app has no console, so it does not show it.)
Phone calls¶
The last row of this part is Phone calls. Push to talk is the default: on a clearance call you hold the key, as on the radio.
The two Two-way (experimental) choices, Two-way A and Two-way B (two versions of the same thing, being compared), open your microphone for the call: there is no button, you just talk, and ATC answers when you have finished. Use a headset. They are experimental and offered only on some accounts for now. When a flight does not offer one, its choice is greyed and calls stay push to talk. If a two-way call has trouble, it goes on as push to talk and the call screen says "Two-way calling stopped. Hold to talk to continue." The choice applies from your next call; saving it never reconnects the flight.
X-Plane¶
| Setting | What it is |
|---|---|
| X-Plane host and Web API port | Where X-Plane's Web API listens. The default, 127.0.0.1 and 8086, is right when the client runs on the same PC as X-Plane |
| End the flight when X-Plane is closed for (s, 0 = never) | Seconds. The default is 30. A pause or a stutter never ends a flight. 0 turns it off |
| Silence X-Plane's own ATIS and AWOS during a flight | On by default. X-Plane has an ATIS and AWOS of its own on the same frequencies, so with both on you would hear two voices with two sets of weather. During a flight the client switches X-Plane's off and switches it back on when the flight ends. If you had it off already, it stays off |
App menu (Linux AppImage)¶
Only on Linux, and only when you run the AppImage, there is one more part, App menu, with Add to app menu and Remove from app menu. See Install on Linux. Nowhere else shows it.
How ATC sounds¶
| Setting | Choices |
|---|---|
| ATC voices | The voices ATC speaks with. Four choices, in this order: Radio voices: distinct controllers with accents, then under Standard voices: Standard: cheapest, most robotic, Neural: the default and Generative: most natural, about twice neural's cost, may be slightly slower to start. Saving a change reconnects the flight (the same flight), so ATC switches at once; an ATIS already on the air keeps its voice until its next letter |
| ATC delivery | How briskly controllers talk: Relaxed, Brisk (the default, about 15% faster) or Fast (about 30% faster). The ATIS is always read at the relaxed pace. Saving a change reconnects the flight (the same flight) |
| Radio effect | Clean, Realistic (the default) or Busy day: how much of a VHF radio you hear on ATC's voice |
| Speech recognition | How your transmissions are written down for ATC. Two choices: Standard (the default) and Scribe, which knows your flight's names. Saving a change reconnects the flight (the same flight); it applies from your next transmission. If Scribe is not available on a flight, Settings says Scribe is not available on this flight: speech recognition is Standard. See Your data for where the audio goes |
The radio voices¶
The radio voices are off by default. With them on, each controller on the radio gets a distinct voice with an accent. Within a flight, one frequency keeps one voice. They already sound like a radio, so the Radio effect only adds its key-up click and tail to them. Phone calls, the ATIS and AWOS keep the Neural voices. If the radio voices are not available on a flight, the flight goes on with the standard voices, and Settings says so under the list.
X-Plane data¶
| Setting | What it is |
|---|---|
| X-Plane folder (optional) | Leave blank to use the folder X-Plane last ran from. The line under it says "Reading" and the folder the client found, or that it found none |
| FAA procedures and ATC data for X-Plane | Installs the FAA's current procedures into your X-Plane, and takes them out again, with Check for update, Install, Update and Remove. See Your X-Plane's data |
Your account¶
ATC¶
| Line | What it is |
|---|---|
| ATC address | One line, not a field. ATC's address comes with your account when you sign in. The line says From your account. once the client has it, and It comes from your account when you sign in. until then. The window never shows the address itself. If it could not be fetched, the line says so and Try again is beside it |
| This flight | While a flight is up, the flight's session id |
Recording¶
Keep my radio audio to improve xatc shows your answer to the recording question, with Allow and Don't allow to change it. Your choice is saved with your account and takes effect at once. Recordings already kept stay until they expire. While it saves, a Saving settings box keeps you from leaving the page until the choice is saved.
Updates¶
The installed app asks the pilot site for the newest version when it starts, and once a day while it is open. A newer version shows a banner above the views: What changed, Update now and Later. The banner waits until your flight has ended, and nothing is installed during a flight. Update now downloads the new version, checks it, installs it, and the app opens again by itself. On Windows it runs the installer; on Linux it replaces the AppImage file (see Install on Linux). Later puts that version off until a newer one comes, or until you start the app again.
- Check now checks on request, and says if it could not.
- Receive prereleases: early versions, to try before everyone gets them is off unless you turn it on. On, you are offered early versions too. A prerelease is a build for testing; it can have faults, and a later change to the service can stop it working until you update. Turn it on only if you have been asked to.
- If ATC needs a newer client than yours, the banner says Update required and has no Later.
Appearance¶
| Setting | What it is |
|---|---|
| Theme | Night (the default) or Paper. The button at the top right of the window switches it too |
| Show the Approach card: ATC's plan for your vectors and approach, as a diagram | On by default. Off, the window never shows ATC's approach plan as a card. The confirmation in the header still shows |
Advanced¶
Advanced, for developers is folded away unless something in it has been changed. You do not need it to fly. It holds the two sign-in service values that come with the client (change them only when the owner tells you to), Aircraft state from (X-Plane 12 (Web API) is the normal choice; Replay a recording and None, a fixed aircraft parked at Seattle, are for testing without the sim) and a manual source for the X-Plane data pack, for testing.
Where things are kept¶
At the very bottom of the page the window shows the Settings file and the Log file paths, with Open log folder.
| What | Where (Windows) |
|---|---|
| Settings | %LOCALAPPDATA%\xatc-agent-client\settings.json |
| The log file | %LOCALAPPDATA%\xatc-agent-client\logs\xatc-agent-client.log |
| Your sign-in | Windows Credential Manager, under xatc-agent-client. Never in a file |
On Linux the settings and the log are in ~/.config/xatc-agent-client/ (the log in its logs folder), and the sign-in is in your keyring.
The settings file never holds a password or a key. It holds ATC's address (written from your account's answer, never by the window, and never shown in it), the sign-in service's two public values, your SimBrief username or pilot ID, your X-Plane folder, and your last flight plan, which pre-fills the New flight dialog.
The log file rotates at 5 MB and keeps five older files. It has every connect and disconnect, ATC's address, what ATC asked of your X-Plane, and every warning and error. It never has your sign-in or any audio. Send it along when you report a problem.