Can FSUIPC do this??

[aziz_alaali@hotmail.com]

Hi Pete,

First, big thanks for making FSUIPC happens. I don’t know if it will work for me, but you have created a whole community around your idea.. great work.

I am building myself a second FS panel based on “glass” cockpit and was wondering if FSUIPC can be part of my solution. My first panel was based on Saitek, which worked and i am still using it.

My setup will be based on Desktop Aviator (or similar) SUPER Rotary Encoder Board and switches, a 15” laptop screen (in addition to main display) and two windows 7 PC (server and client config).

My questions are as follows: (just looking for a Yes or No at this stage)

1. Can FSUIPC be used to control switches like “Map Range Zoom”, “MFD display”, “Transponder” mode control, “GPS rotary” controls? And what experience is required to map this to FSX? I am not a programmer, but i can easily understand and modify XML files.
   
2. Does FSUIPC allow me to have all those switches connected to “client” PC?, and what impact will this have on processing if connected to main PC?. I know it is not possible to answer this questions as there are many variables... i am just looking for ball park. eg. Yeah, it will slow your FSX or No, it is not relevant.
   
3. Does FSUIPC allow me to display aeroplane gauges via the “client” PC on a second monitor?? And is the lag time an issue??
   
4. Can FSUIPC handle displays for Autopilot items such (HDG, CRS, Altitude, VS, etc), and what display hardware do you recommend. I am looking for yellow displays?
   
5. Finally, which hardware “USB boards” company (website) do you recommend to control all these switches? And is there noticeable difference between the different solutions?
   

Many thanks and l look forward to start flying simulated jets..

Best regards

[Pete Dowson]

Can FSUIPC be used to control switches like “Map Range Zoom”, “MFD display”, “Transponder” mode control, “GPS rotary” controls?

I think that very much depends on the aircraft and which GPS you are using. Whilst FS does include a large range of controls for its GPS, some of them don't work. The transponder mode is not simulated in FS in any case so the switch is merely cosmetic -- if you are using something like FSInn or Squawkbox then they each have their own ways of dealing with the transponder mode and ident functions, and FSUIPC can certainly help there by allowing keypresses to be assigned to buttons.

And what experience is required to map this to FSX? I am not a programmer, but i can easily understand and modify XML files.

FSUIPC does not use XML. Please review the documentation (which will be installed for you when you install FSUIPC -- you do not have to purchase FSUIPC in order to install it and use it for interfacing applications). Also review the User Contributions subforum where you will see all the different ways folks have found for interfacing different add-on aircraft.

As you see, when building any sort of cockpit system you rteally do need to plan for the aircraft you are wanting to use.

Does FSUIPC allow me to have all those switches connected to “client” PC?, and what impact will this have on processing if connected to main PC?

WideFS supports switches and dials, but not axes, on networked clients. For axes you'd need to write a small Lua plug-in, but generally it is not recommended to have control axes on a client because of latency issues. There's no measurable overhead and little to no delay in having switches on a client.

Does FSUIPC allow me to display aeroplane gauges via the “client” PC on a second monitor??

No, not FS gauges, which are merely either XML scripts or small modules wholly dependent on the graphics code in the body of FSX. There are add-on applications which can provide gages external to FS -- FSExpand, SimAvionics, Aerosoft Australia, and Project Magenta all support this sort of thing for different aircraft types. The iFly 737NG Pro version comes with an integrated ability to network too. These programs either use WideFS or their own Networking code.

Can FSUIPC handle displays for Autopilot items such (HDG, CRS, Altitude, VS, etc), and what display hardware do you recommend. I am looking for yellow displays?

FSUIPC is an interface into FS. It is not a hardware driver. You are under some misuinderstanding here. You can write software to drive any displays you can program and interface via FSUIPC to extract the data for display. FSUIPC does support plug-ins written in Lua which can handle displays too if they are COM or USB connected.

Finally, which hardware “USB boards” company (website) do you recommend to control all these switches? And is there noticeable difference between the different solutions?

It really doesn't matter provided the switches and buttons are visible via Windows (DirectInput). Unless you write Lua plug-ins or external applications for interfacing, FSUIPC handles joystick-type devices via Windows, just like FS -- up to 32 buttons, 4 POVs and 8 axes on each of up to 16 devices. It also supports GoFlight devices via the GFDev.DLL driver supplied by GoFlight and VRI devices with some provisos.

Really your best bet is to review the documentation, the supplied Lua examples, and the User Contributions. But you first need to determine what aircraft you are going to be building for. Also check out LINDA which uses Lua plug-ins and a front-end program to make a lot of this stuff easier.

Pete