Garmin 1000 and FSX General Aviation

[shivers9 1,174]

I saw a post the other day about the new Sky Catcher and eventually a pretty show room new 182 both with Garmin's down the road. Good news to me for sure...love the 182. My question is, because I know it takes a long time for Flight 1 to go through the developement cycle (not a slam guys! Honest :() I was wondering if anyone has had any success with either FS2X or mindstar G1000 in FSX. The Mindstar stuff seems to be struggling with FSX as they are still in Beta trying to get things to work in Vista. FS2X looks nice but pretty limited in aircraft choice. Any thing else out there for now that you guys know of. I use the wonderful Kodiak now but would like a an up to date bug smasher without the turbo prop!!

[WarpD 824]

I saw a post the other day about the new Sky Catcher and eventually a pretty show room new 182 both with Garmin's down the road. Good news to me for sure...love the 182. My question is, because I know it takes a long time for Flight 1 to go through the developement cycle (not a slam guys! Honest :() I was wondering if anyone has had any success with either FS2X or mindstar G1000 in FSX. The Mindstar stuff seems to be struggling with FSX as they are still in Beta trying to get things to work in Vista. FS2X looks nice but pretty limited in aircraft choice. Any thing else out there for now that you guys know of. I use the wonderful Kodiak now but would like a an up to date bug smasher without the turbo prop!!

If Mindstar is 'struggling'... it's shocking news to me. LOLTheir G1000 is one of the most complex and comprehensive simulations of that system on the market, bar none. No, I don't work for Mindstar.

[Chuck_Jodry-VJPL 663]

During the production of the recent Cirrus Vision released from FSD they modified the FSX version of the G1000 unit for use with jet aircraft and at the same timemade the panel compatible for use with the MindStar unit , it turned out that there were some issues with the MindStar in Vista and install " glitches " for FSX under XP as well.As Ed mentioned it is state of the art but like often happens with complex systems on multiple platforms there are potential complications , it worked perfectly in FS9 on XP.

[glassman2005 0]

Just to be clear, there is no "struggle" at all. If people have Vista or Windows 7, they need to install the "beta" version of the Mindstar G1000. If they have Windows XP, they install the "retail" version. It's pretty much that simple. Also, even if you have XP, and you want to have the "absolute latest", you can install the beta version too. One important distinction is that in order to use the beta version, you must have already purchased the standard version. You don't have to INSTALL the standard version, you just have to purchase it, in order to gain access to the beta versions.There also seems to be a mix of topics in the original post here that I'd like to address. The standard retail version is compatible with FSX and has been for years now. The beta version, of course, is also compatible with FSX. But if your operating system is Vista or Windows 7, you have to use the beta version. And to be even clearer, the "compatibility" has nothing to do with the G1000 itself, it has to do with the version of InstallShield. Vista and Windows 7 impose new "rules" for software installation (all under the guise of 'better security') so we had to upgrade the version of InstallShield that we use in order to make the install work on the post-XP operating systems.And finally, we keep the "beta" version in that beta status because it's a never-ending development process. Garmin adds to the "real" G1000 almost monthly, and it's impossible to keep up. So for a long time, we have kept the latest version labeled as "beta" because, well, we never stop adding to it.

[shivers9 1,174]

If Mindstar is 'struggling'... it's shocking news to me. LOLTheir G1000 is one of the most complex and comprehensive simulations of that system on the market, bar none. No, I don't work for Mindstar.

Thanks for the reply Ed. Do understand that my use of the term "struggling" has nothing to do with the quality of the product or their ability and workmanship. It was more of an acknowledgement of how much trouble the pro's are having dealing with the FSX beast...LOL I am really looking for leads as to learning more about the product. It seems that more an more the designers are not in the mood to release information about their progress on products because of the complexity. I am sure that is there attempt to avoid the slams that to often show up on the boards when things get delayed. Rest assured that is not my intention!! I am pulling for them.Sam

[shivers9 1,174]

Just to be clear, there is no "stuggle" at all. If people have Vista or Windows 7, they install the "beta" version. If they have Windows XP, they install the "retail" version. It's pretty much that simple. Also, even if you have XP, and you want to have the "absolute latest", you can install the beta version too. One important distinction is that in order to use the beta version, you must have already purchased the standard version. You don't have to INSTALL the standard version, you just have to purchase it, in order to gain access to the beta versions.There also seems to be a mix of topics in the original post here that I'd like to address. The standard retail version is compatible with FSX and has been for years now. The beta version, of course, is also compatible with FSX. But if your operating system is Vista or Windows 7, you have to use the beta version. And to be even clearer, the "compatibility" has nothing to do with the G1000 itself, it has to do with the version of InstallShield. Vista and Windows 7 impose new "rules" for software installation (all under the guise of 'better security') so we had to upgrade the version of InstallShield that we use in order to make the install work on the post-XP operating systems.And finally, we keep the "beta" version in that beta status because it's a never-ending development process. Garmin adds to the "real" G1000 almost monthly, and it's impossible to keep up. So for a long time, we have kept the latest version labeled as "beta" because, well, we never stop adding to it.

Thanks Glassman for the info and it all makes sense. I guess that is all news to me LOL!! I have never seen a lot of info like this on the boards and this is very helpfull. I should have ask the question sooner! LOL I may have been mis-judging the status of the product due to the fact that the website home page tends to give the impression that it works for 2004 on Oh by the way, We have a "Beta" version for Vista. Judging the book by the cover I know! I know! LOL

[glassman2005 0]

I know I know, and some of that is our fault. We spend so much time working on the software that sometimes, we neglect updating our website. And.....for whatever reason, most of our support requests come in through email, not via the forum, so unfortunately there is no visible history of questions and answers except for those that post directly to the board. We mostly sell to real-world pilots, and to real-world full motion flight simulator vendors, and it seems they tend to use email while avoiding forums like the plague -- not sure why, and I'm sure it's not always that way, but that's been our experience. Unfortunately, we haven't figured out how to add about 10 hours to each day so we have more time to do everything (and 10 hours is probably still not enough LOL!)

[trisager 2]

Judging the book by the cover I know! I know! LOL

Not much else to go by, though. Web page, faq and forum updating seem to have stopped sometime in 2007. (On the other hand, the price doesn't appear to have been raised either since then, so that's a good thing :()Will this product work with my Windows 7, 64-bit version?

[glassman2005 0]

Yes, it works in Vista and Windows 7 if you request the beta version -- I'm not sure how else to explain this. I thought I clarified up above earlier in this thread.Not sure where you're getting those dates on the forum, there are certainly more recent updates in the forum than 2007. I'm wondering if you're going to the right forum. Make sure you start at the Mindstar Aviation website: www.MindstarAviation.com

[trisager 2]

Yes, it works in Vista and Windows 7 if you request the beta version -- I'm not sure how else to explain this. I thought I clarified up above earlier in this thread.

Thanks, I was wondering specifically about 64-bit support on Windows 7. I saw a posting in your support forum that seemed to me as if there was an issue.

Not sure where you're getting those dates on the forum, there are certainly more recent updates in the forum than 2007. I'm wondering if you're going to the right forum.

Well, in your FAQ you talk about beginning virtual cockpit optimization in early 2007, and the beta forum that is liked to from the front page is called the "Garmin G1000 2007 *BETA* Forum", that's where the dates came from. Is that not the right forum?Anyway, I was mainly interested in confirmation that Windows 7 64-bit was explicitly supported.

[shivers9 1,174]

Glassman....Is there a list of compatable aircraft. My specific interest is a home cockpit for modern Cessna 182 using Windows7 but seems like quite a bit of interest by others also. I think we may all have the credit card out if we can figure out if we can make your product work for us!! :( Thanks ..Sam

[N400QW 205]

Glassman....Is there a list of compatable aircraft. My specific interest is a home cockpit for modern Cessna 182 using Windows7 but seems like quite a bit of interest by others also. I think we may all have the credit card out if we can figure out if we can make your product work for us!! :( Thanks ..Sam

I can't answer for Mindstar but can say that all future Eaglesoft G1000 equipped aircraft are intended to be compatible with the Mindstar Units.In short, there will be no prohibition on customers "swapping out" our units for Mindstar Units. :(

[trisager 2]

I can't answer for Mindstar but can say that all future Eaglesoft G1000 equipped aircraft are intended to be compatible with the Mindstar Units.In short, there will be no prohibition on customers "swapping out" our units for Mindstar Units. :(

Very interesting - can you tell us what your first Mindstar-compatible release for FSX will be?

[WarpD 824]

Very interesting - can you tell us what your first Mindstar-compatible release for FSX will be?

Can we? Yes... will we? *runs!*

[brucek 38]

Very interesting - can you tell us what your first Mindstar-compatible release for FSX will be?

How does the MindStar G1000 compare to the one included with the Flight One Cessna Mustang? I assume that the Mustang model has software configurations related to that specific aircraft, whereas maybe the MindStar is not so aircraft specific? Anyway, any further differences would be great to know if anyone has a comparison.Thanks, Bruce.