Programming Fuel Cutoff Levers 1&2 for PMDG 737

[robert mcdonald]

Recently I purchased fuel cutoff levers for my PMDG 737 and was having a problem programming them in MSFS.  I elected to purchase FSUIPC7 (and already owned WideFS), so I popped in my email and serial numbers and away I went.  

These steps worked well for me, and bonus, the fuel levers move on screen along with your hardware!! Note: If you get out of sync with the animated levers in the on-screen cockpit, use your mouse to 'switch' the on-screen levers to the match up with your hardware levers! Simple! I start MSFS with the 737 engines 'off' so I start with my hardware levers in the down position.

When you install MSFS, you must also install WIDEFS, if you previously owned an older version of FSUIPC, you do NOT have to purchase WIDEFS over again, but you need your registration details (email and serial number) from wherever you bought it, most likely SimMarket. Once you have installed BOTH FSUIPC7 (for MSFS) and WIDEFS, you start MSFS. FSUIPC starts automatically.  When you are in MSFS, press ALT+F to bring up FSUIPC. In the menu at the top, click on Buttons . Then just complete as shown in the pictures and click OK.  Close FSUIPC window and in the sim watch the onscreen levers move to match you moving your new hardware levers! Bingo!  Click on screen shot thumbnails below to view full image.

 

 

Start FSUIPC7 (ALT+F) - Then across top menu - Choose Buttons & Switches. Move the first lever you want to program up and down a couple times so FSUIPC can recognize it. Put a checkmark in the box "Select for FS Control". In the drop-down window on the right side of screen, "Control Sent When Button Pressed" - choose ROTOR BRAKE. Then enter the value 68801. Repeat the process for "Control Sent When Button Released" Once again, choose Rotor Brake and value 68801. Click OK.

Then repeat this process, but this time move Lever #2 up and down a time or two until FSUIPC identifies the correct Joystick and Button Number. Then do everything just as above EXCEPT the numerical value for the right side lever is 68901. You can refer to the screen shots to make sure your work is correct. Your JOYSTICK may be a different letter depending on how many joysticks you have. The BUTTON NUMBERS though should match the shots here (I think).

Information provided is without warranty and end user assumes all risks of use thereof.

[John Dowson]

Thanks for this. Note that there are also several presets available to control the fuel cutoff levers in the PMDG 737:

PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_LEFT_LEVER_CUTOFF - maps to 68802 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)
PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_LEFT_LEVER_IDLE - maps to 68801 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)
PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_RIGHT_LEVER_CUTOFF - maps to 68902 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)
PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_RIGHT_LEVER_IDLE - maps to 68901 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)

as well as the following which check the position of the lever before sending the control (which helps in keeping the levers in sync with the VC):

PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER1_DN - maps to (L:switch_688_73X) 0 == if{ 68801 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }
PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER1_UP - maps to (L:switch_688_73X) 100 == if{ 68801 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }
PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER2_DN - maps to (L:switch_689_73X) 0 == if{ 68901 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }
PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER2_UP - maps to (L:switch_689_73X) 100 == if{ 68901 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }

Also, with the PMDG 737 you can use the Rotor Brake control, but that has certain restrictions as the single parameter represents the button/switch as well as the mouse operation to control that switch. Rather than using the Rotor Brake control, you can use a custom control number instead. See the following FAQ entry on using custom controls for PMDG aircraft (also valid for FSX and P3D): 

Also, this FAQ entry shows how to calculate Rotor Brake control parameters from the PMDG 737 SDK for general use (although the custom control method us more complete):

John

[robert mcdonald]

On 11/24/2022 at 1:41 AM, John Dowson said:

Thanks for this. Note that there are also several presets available to control the fuel cutoff levers in the PMDG 737:

PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_LEFT_LEVER_CUTOFF - maps to 68802 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)
PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_LEFT_LEVER_IDLE - maps to 68801 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)
PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_RIGHT_LEVER_CUTOFF - maps to 68902 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)
PMDG_B737_ENGINE_START_RIGHT_LEVER_IDLE - maps to 68901 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE)

as well as the following which check the position of the lever before sending the control (which helps in keeping the levers in sync with the VC):

PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER1_DN - maps to (L:switch_688_73X) 0 == if{ 68801 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }
PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER1_UP - maps to (L:switch_688_73X) 100 == if{ 68801 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }
PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER2_DN - maps to (L:switch_689_73X) 0 == if{ 68901 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }
PMDG_B737-7_FUEL_CUT_OFF_LEVER2_UP - maps to (L:switch_689_73X) 100 == if{ 68901 (>K:ROTOR_BRAKE) }

Also, with the PMDG 737 you can use the Rotor Brake control, but that has certain restrictions as the single parameter represents the button/switch as well as the mouse operation to control that switch. Rather than using the Rotor Brake control, you can use a custom control number instead. See the following FAQ entry on using custom controls for PMDG aircraft (also valid for FSX and P3D): 

Also, this FAQ entry shows how to calculate Rotor Brake control parameters from the PMDG 737 SDK for general use (although the custom control method us more complete):

John

Thanks for this John- I have 2 issues and some questions-

1- where can I download the user guide for FSUIPC 7.x? could you provide a link please?  Might be worth pinning?

2- The beginning of this response from you you show some code to determine the position(s) of the fuel cutoff levers for the PMDG 737.  Where exactly do I place this code?  I would surmise possibly in the FSUIPC.ini somehow?  Does the code you list only determine the levers' initial position(s) or does the code also respond when the hardware (not virtual) levers are moved up or down?  Finally does your code in this segment 'replace' the rotor brake button assignments that I showed in my initial post here?  Oh, and how can I 'follow' this post to see responses?  Cannot see a way to do that?

Thank you in advance.

Robert

[John Dowson]

1 hour ago, robert mcdonald said:

1- where can I download the user guide for FSUIPC 7.x? could you provide a link please?  Might be worth pinning?

The FSUIPC7 documentation is installed with FSUIPC7, into your Windows Documents folder. There should also be a link to that folder under your FSUIPC7 installation folder. Note that the documentation for presets is in the Advanced User guide, under the WASM section.

1 hour ago, robert mcdonald said:

2- The beginning of this response from you you show some code to determine the position(s) of the fuel cutoff levers for the PMDG 737.  Where exactly do I place this code?  I would surmise possibly in the FSUIPC.ini somehow?  Does the code you list only determine the levers' initial position(s) or does the code also respond when the hardware (not virtual) levers are moved up or down?  Finally does your code in this segment 'replace' the rotor brake button assignments that I showed in my initial post here?  Oh, and how can I 'follow' this post to see responses?  Cannot see a way to do that?

You don't need to do anything with the code (calculator code). You just assign as normal, but using the checkbox Select for Preset and not Select for FS control. Presets are a mechanism to send calculator code to the FS, and those provided are from the community effort, led by MobiFlight, and available from their HubHop server - see https://hubhop.mobiflight.com/presets/. Please see the Advanced User guide for details on using presets.

John

[robert mcdonald]

many thanks for the illumination, John  it is greatly appreciated!

I was able to get your initial lines of code (Presets) assigned to the buttons "use presets" just fine, but I was initially clueless how to include the second group of commands to add logic to check the position of the hardware switches so they are synchronized with the sim... 

after some fumbling about, I was in the 'use presets' area for the pmdg 737, and discovered lo and behold, there is a SECOND section of presets further down the list "pmdg 737-7" where the more advanced logic code to match up with the on-screen Virtual Cockpit were present.  So I selected those instead (screenshots included):

LEFT engine (engine 1) Fuel lever assignments - note "Select for Preset" must be checked off, then find the appropriate commands as shown using the drop-down window in "Control sent when button pressed" as well as "Control sent when button released".  Be sure to scroll down to the second group of 737 presets '737-7" where these commands are found.

Here are the screenshots for the RIGHT-side (engine #2) fuel cutoff levers for the PMDG 737-700.

thank you John!

robert

[Marknie123]

I was reading this thread and notice that it may not apply to me.  I have the Thrustmaster Boeing yoke and throttle Quadrant. I want to map the 2 levers at the bottom of the yoke to my PMDG 737 in MSFS 2020. I have to use axis not buttons for fsuipc to recognize them. But no rotor brake on the list. Is this possible to do? Thanks in advance!

[John Dowson]

On 7/26/2023 at 12:35 AM, Marknie123 said:

I have to use axis not buttons for fsuipc to recognize them. But no rotor brake on the list. Is this possible to do? Thanks in advance!

You cannot assign an axis (left-hand side of the axis assignment window) to a non-axis control, such as Rotor Brake, as this doesn't make any sense, as you would be sending the axis value to the Rotor Brake control. If you want to assign an axis to a non-axis control, you would usually do this on the right-hand side of the axis assignment window, and assign to send one control when it enters a specific range, and another when it exists a specific range. So you can assign to send your Rotor Brake control (or preset) for lever up when the axis moves up into the range and then assign to lever down when it moves down into the range. If your axis range is the standard -16384 - +16384, and as I presume you will be using these axes like a lever, then you can use any range really, but I would suggest something like -12500 - +12500 for both your up/down ranges.

John

[Marknie123]

Thanks for the answer. I have since bought a full 737-800 TQ replica. We will see how it goes.