Aerosoft Australia 744 MCP

[kand]

Hi Pete

Is there any way that FSUIPC could be used to control the hardware 747MCP or does it always have to be an external app?

Thanks Keith

[Pete Dowson]

Is there any way that FSUIPC could be used to control the hardware 747MCP or does it always have to be an external app?

Sorry, it's a long time since I had one of those, but Iseem to remember it was pretty flexible. Lots of folks use them, even with Project Magenta. And doesn't it come with a good enough driver? What's your real question? What are you wanting to do that you can't?

Please don't confuse FSUIPC with any sort of hardware driver. FSUIPC is an interface into FS -- hardware drivers interface to FSUIPC, FSUIPC interfaces to FS. There's no hardware access code in FSUIPC.

Regards

Pete

[kand]

I was just wondering if FSUIPC could see the Aerosoft box in the buttons/axis tab and allow me to map FSUIPC macros/FSX default commands/functions to the MCP buttons?

The windows driver is fine and the box works with what it was designed/released to work with aka FS9, some addon developers like PMDG LevelD produced new software to allow their product to communicate with the MCP but the newer products on the fsim scene do not design any support for the MCP anymore because it is a discontinued product. I have tried emailing the creator Andrew Mclean but he never responds either, which is a shame I had hoped he would maybe release the inner workings so that the "clever" end users could come up with some flexible alternative, this product has lots of life left in it even though it is best part of 7 years old!

FSlabs produced a new app to allow PMDG 744FSx to communicate with the MCP but its quite expensive and I dont own the 744 X

I would guess there are many more out there like me who just want to try and eek every last drop out of what was and still is a fabulous piece of FS hardware and thats why I popped this question to you. I have read that the MCP used FSUIPC to communicate but I dont know if that was true or not? based on what I read is the reason I asked this question !

BTW a big thanks for your continued work on the Fsim series, I only recently moved over to FSX and the 1st addon I bought was FSUIPC/widefs as in my opinion FSX cannot live without them !

Regards Keith

[Pete Dowson]

I was just wondering if FSUIPC could see the Aerosoft box in the buttons/axis tab and allow me to map FSUIPC macros/FSX default commands/functions to the MCP buttons?

It could only do that if the Aerosoft MCP driver either fed those buttons into Windows as genuine joystick type buttons, or set the virtual button offsets.

I recall that, in fact, I first invented the 288 virtual button bits in the FSUIPC offsets specifically for the Aerosoft driver to map the 288 possible buttons it supported! This is for extra button boards you connect to the MCP via its expansion ports. But I'm pretty sure, now I remember that, that the main MCP functions were pre-programmed into the Aerosoft driver, that it interfaces directly to the correct FSUIPC offsets to do its job.

The windows driver is fine and the box works with what it was designed/released to work with aka FS9, some addon developers like PMDG LevelD produced new software to allow their product to communicate with the MCP

Actually, wasn't it Aerosoft themselves who provided the extra drivers? One for Project Magenta as well, I think?

... but the newer products on the fsim scene do not design any support for the MCP anymore because it is a discontinued product. I have tried emailing the creator Andrew Mclean but he never responds either, which is a shame I had hoped he would maybe release the inner workings so that the "clever" end users could come up with some flexible alternative, this product has lots of life left in it even though it is best part of 7 years old!

Well, yes, it would need some sort of SDK for anyone to do any sort of new drivers. If there were an SDK I'm sure someone could knock up a more generalised interface program for it which would allow FSUIPC button assignment.

FSlabs produced a new app to allow PMDG 744FSx to communicate with the MCP

So they must have an SDK for the MCP, or at least enough information to produce such a driver?

I would guess there are many more out there like me who just want to try and eek every last drop out of what was and still is a fabulous piece of FS hardware and thats why I popped this question to you. I have read that the MCP used FSUIPC to communicate

Yes, but only by driving the correct offsets to make it work as an FS MCP.

Maybe you could ask other cockpit folks over in http://www.mycockpit.org/forums . I'm sure there are plenty of other Aerosoft MCP users there. There's even one chap who's making stick-on backlit fronts for it in correct Boeing 737 colour!

Regards

Pete

[kand]

Hi Pete

Yes your correct in that Aerosoft adapted their software each time a new addon came out which provided the relevant offsets they could use to drive their box. Windows cannot see the front panel buttons, I suppose they are like buttons on a printer in that they have a function but are embedded at the driver level so my guess is that a new driver would have to be made to allow windows to see the box as a USB HID. Easier to go and get the bits from opencockpits and make a newer more flexible MCP !

Thanks for your time and wisdom!

Will have a trip to the other forum

Kind regards

Keith

[Pete Dowson]

Yes your correct in that Aerosoft adapted their software each time a new addon came out which provided the relevant offsets they could use to drive their box.

Yes, but I just noticed that FDS (Flight Deck Software --- http://www.flightdecksoftware.com ) say they support the Aerosoft MCP too, and FDS is relatively recent -- certainly long after Aerosoft stopped MCP support. So I really must assume there's an SDK available, or else some clever folks have decoded the original Aerosoft driver.

The only Aerosoft kit i have is a Piper Arrow III console (the "GA28R") -- a full analogue-gauge equipped front end for a Piper Arrow III. It is only one of 5 they made, apparently. They supplied a driver for it, but it won't work on 64-bit Vista or W7 and has its serial port interface rather limited in how it operates. Andrew Maclean kindly supplied full interface details for me and I've now written a little DLL which interfaces directly to it and FSUIPC4 and drives it very efficiently on my Win7 64-bit system. I'm sure someone could easily do something like that for the MCP, given the information which I think must surely exist.

Note, however, that my GA28R driver does NOT allow the buttons to be assigned anyway you want. They do drive the GA28R as a PA28 Arrow III, interfacing to the inner equivalent functions in FSX (only -- I'm not doing one for FS9). So in that sense it is similar to the Aerosoft MCP driver -- that drives the built-in MCP in FS, right? There's no way I could use my Piper Arrow console to fly a PMDG 747 or MD11! ;-)

Regards

Pete

[cavaricooper]

Pete-

While searching for a driver for my Aerosoft Australia MCP to make it work with the NGX I came across this. Now that the SDK is out, do you think its possible to write a driver for the EFIS,MCP,EICAS? I have looked and looked but there doesn't seem to be anything at the moment and both Andrew and Lefteris are not interested at the moment.................... Ta!|

C

[Pete Dowson]

While searching for a driver for my Aerosoft Australia MCP to make it work with the NGX I came across this. Now that the SDK is out, do you think its possible to write a driver for the EFIS,MCP,EICAS? I have looked and looked but there doesn't seem to be anything at the moment and both Andrew and Lefteris are not interested at the moment.................... Ta!|

Sorry, I have neither the information nor the equipment, and i really cannot take on more work in any case.

Regards

Pete