PMDG SDK

[kingm56]

Hey Paul,

I hope you're doing well! I just had a look at PMDG's newly released SDK and it appears to very similar to the P3D version; however, I notice you .dll does seem to have any impact on some functions. For example, setting the Alt works fine in P3D, but not MSFS: 

FSUIPCConnection.SendControlToFS(PMDG_737_NGX_Control.EVT_MCP_ALT_SET, 11000);

PMDG_737_NGX_Control.EVT_MCP_ALT_SET = 84137

The event numbers appears to be the same; so, I'm curious if you might offer any suggestions why it has no effect. 

[Paul Henty]

It's difficult to comment as I don't have the SDK. Is there a download link or can you DM it to me?

So far, on MSFS aircraft, PMDG have been accepting all events as a parameter to the ROTORBRAKE control. Have they abandoned that and reverted to direct control numbers?

Paul

[pdubost]

PMDG's SDK documentation seems to indicate that we can use controls as in FSX or P3D. On the other end, it appears that all controls above 69632 generate an error in the fsuipc log. Do we need to enable something in FSUIPC ?

[Paul Henty]

Maybe @John Dowsonknows something about this?

Paul

[kingm56]

Hey Paul!

I've attached the SDK; as you can see, it looks a lot like P3D's SDK.  

PMDG_737_MSFS_SDK.pdf

[Paul Henty]

Thanks. It was the PMDG_NG3_SDK.h file I was after as that has all the values in. But it does seem they've abandoned the RotorBrake method.

However, according to pdubost above, it seems FSUIPC7 is having problems with control numbers over 69632. 

It's really a question for John at the moment.

Paul 

[kingm56]

Sorry, Paul.  I'll check with John about the errors.

PMDG_NG3_SDK.h

[John Dowson]

It looks like the PMDG SDK documentation for the 737-700 is wrong, and the Rotor Brake control is still being used. Please see 

 

John

 

 

[pdubost]

Hi John

 

I read on the PMDG forums that some users are actually using these documented controls using AAO under MSFS. For example control 84136 for setting the MCP heading with a heading value . 

 

I do not have AAO, so I could not check it personally. 

 

Regards

[John Dowson]

1 hour ago, pdubost said:

For example control 84136 for setting the MCP heading with a heading value . 

So that would be this one (from the SDK header):

#define EVT_MCP_HDG_SET                                    (THIRD_PARTY_EVENT_ID_MIN + 14504)    // Sets new heading, commands the shortest turn

1 hour ago, pdubost said:

I do not have AAO, so I could not check it personally. 

Neither do I...

There should be no changes between FSUIPC6 and FSUIPC7 when using custom controls, if supported by the aircraft, but maybe MSFS handles these differently to FSX/P3D. I will check this and report back (will be tomorrow now though at the earliest). 

Cheers,

John

[Jason Fayre]

Hello,

We will want to update our Talking Flight Monitor accessibility software to work with MSFS. We use a huge amount of the pmdg controls, since we use custom accessible panels for the aircraft.

Currently, we're using the SendControlToFS function from the FSUIPC .net library. Will this still work for the rotor break? If so, how would I do that?

Can't say I'm looking forward to adding all new control statements for MSFS. Ugh!

 

[Jason Fayre]

In addition to my above message, I'm wondering if it is no longer possible to send specific control states to these controls. We used to be able to send 0 to turn off a switch and 1 to turn it on for example. Other parameters would accept a raw value for things like altitudes and speeds.

 

[Paul Henty]

Hi Jason,

The rotor brake method is described in this guide I wrote. It's aimed at people programming keys and joysticks but you will get the idea.

 

Since the parameter is used to send the command you can only send mouse click actions. I can't see any way of sending values along with the command.

However, I would caution against jumping into this immediately and rewriting your app until PMDG give a clear statement on which method is supposed to be used. The SDK document and .h file are using the same custom events method as P3D (which doesn't seem to work). During development they've been using the rotor brake method, which apparently does still work. 

It would be very strange for an established and serious company to release an SDK that it complete nonsense, but I suppose it's possible. I would wait to see if there is any clarity, or you might find you have to change your code again. I'm certainly not integrating any of this into my DLL until I know what's going on.

Paul

[John Dowson]

I've looked into this further and it seems that the way the MSFS SDK handles custom controls has changed, and I suspect this is since the SU10 update. Currently it is not possible to send these custom controls, but I will update the code to handle this and post a new version.

It looks like you can still use the Rotor Brake control, but you can only send mouse operations to buttons/switches/rotaries/etc using this method, and not other parameters (such as heading). Not sure why the PMDG SDK doesn't mention this - maybe because the Rotor Brake control is deprecated now in the MSFS SDK, so you should move away from using this and use the custom controls instead.

I'll try and get a new version out in the next few days.

John

[Jason Fayre]

Awesome! Thanks!

Paul, any idea when you might get the updated offset block into the .net library for the PMDG for MSFS?

 

[pdubost]

Thank you John for your support.  This makes perfect sense.  Looking forward for this new release. 

Regards

Pierre

[Paul Henty]

6 hours ago, Jason Fayre said:

Paul, any idea when you might get the updated offset block into the .net library for the PMDG for MSFS?

I planned to release a version later today to fix a small bug in the MSFSVariableServices. Now we have some clarity with the new PMDG SDK I'll also add the new Offsets and a new controls Enum (if they've changed - I haven't looked yet).

Paul

[John Dowson]

I have just released 7.3.12 which contains a fix for using custom controls - available from the usual places.
Note that FSUIPC7, the WASM and the WAPI have also all been updated to VS2022 and the latest platform toolset. If you are using the WAPI then please update your application.

@Paul HentyWill the websocketserver need an update for this?

[Paul Henty]

1 minute ago, John Dowson said:

I have just released 7.3.12 which contains a fix for using custom controls - available from the usual places.
Note that FSUIPC7, the WASM and the WAPI have also all been updated to VS2022 and the latest platform toolset. If you are using the WAPI then please update your application.

@Paul HentyWill the websocketserver need an update for this?

Yes, I'll get a new version to you by the end of today.

Is the latest version of the PMDG Offsets list the MSFS 737 in this post?

Paul

[John Dowson]

Just now, Paul Henty said:

Yes, I'll get a new version to you by the end of today.

Ok thanks - when I get it I will update the downloadable zips, but there will be no version change.

1 minute ago, Paul Henty said:

Is the latest version of the PMDG Offsets list the MSFS 737 in this post?

Not sure, but its in the latest installer and attached here. It hasn't change for a while now.

John

Offset Mapping for PMDG 737-700.pdf

[Paul Henty]

Thanks for the document. 

I've just looked at the WebSocketServer - There's no need for a new version. It just needs the WAPID dll replacing with the new 0.9.1 version, but it looks like you've already done that in the latest installer. So everything looks okay.

Paul

[John Dowson]

Just now, Paul Henty said:

I've just looked at the WebSocketServer - There's no need for a new version. It just needs the WAPID dll replacing with the new 0.9.1 version, but it looks like you've already done that in the latest installer. So everything looks okay.

👍

Thanks for checking,

John

[Paul Henty]

New version is now on NuGet (3.2.23-beta). You will need to tick the [show pre-release] box in the NuGet package manager to see this version.

The current PMDG_737_NGX_Controls enum has been updated with the new controls for the MSFS 737s.

The offsets for the MSFS version are very different to previous versions, so there is a new class called PMDG_737_MFSF_Offsets that contains the new offsets.

This works like the previous offset helpers. Details in this post for anyone unfamiliar:

Paul

 

[Alpin-Flier]

Hi John

This is just to confirm to you, that the new FSUIPC7 v7.3.12 is working perfectly 😊. Finally I can send again events with parameters to the well known PMDG offsets. This allows me to reuse most of my scripts made for P3D. I think (and hope), we can forget now the strange and confusing "Rotorbrake" story 😁

Thank you very, very much for your effective and fast service.

All the best

Urs

[pdubost]

Thank you John, I have tested several controls and it works perfectly. Much more powerful than the rotor brake scheme. I can now set my MCP dials from my Vrinsight much more efficiently!

Great ultra reactive response as usual !

Cheers 

Pierre