Cockpit builder..... may bye a Day?

[percylee 13]

Look at shaun cockpit he has undocked his forward outside view and moved to a sperated set of monitors, you can not do that with VC without draging the cockpit along, with MPC and other equipment you do not need the cockpit showing, just clutters up the view.

percylee.

[jwoody18 4]

You can pretty much do nearly a full cockpit with the PMDG 73NGX and the SDK.  Here's my setup using it with Opencockpits and joystick card interfacing.

 

 

I. Love. Your. Setup.

[nolatron 12]

I. Love. Your. Setup.

Thanks!

 

Look at shaun cockpit he has undocked his forward outside view and moved to a sperated set of monitors, you can not do that with VC without draging the cockpit along, with MPC and other equipment you do not need the cockpit showing, just clutters up the view.

percylee.

I don't really follow you either, but...

 

The external view on the top 3 monitors is the default 2D cockpit view, just with no 2D panels. It spans all three monitors (primary monitor, single monitor resolution of 5760x1080). I didn't undock and move that view.

 

The bottom monitor contains the 3 pop-up panels that appear when you click on each MIP display. Those are undocked and moved.

 

The FMC monitor contains the FMC panel with the just the screen showing. That is undocked and moved.

 

You will always have the external forward view, it's a default FSX view. It really just depends on how far PMDG takes the "no 2D panels" stance. As long as they still allow the MIP displays to "Pop Out" then you're fine.

 

No sense in arguing about though until ithe 777 is released and we know for sure.

[DaveLTB 5]

One important item you can not do on the 777 and I guess future PMDG projects and is a killer for those of us who have a cockpit and that is separate the forward outside view from the VC.

 

Percy,

It is indeed possible when using at least two PC's linked together via WIDEVIEW.

PMDG's 737NGX can only be installed and function properly on one PC. This would be the "master" PC which shows the virtual cockpit. The second PC which shows the external view(s) out of the cockpit window can be powered by one or more than one "slave" PCs. Since they show the terrain, and not the aircraft or the virtual cockpit, the 737NGX isn't even installed on it(them).

 

Greetings

Dave Britzius

(Flight Simulator Cockpit Builder)

[MistyBlue 8]

I asked the question a while back and the response from PMDG was a cockpit builder edition was not off the table.  It was on their list of projects they'd like to do.  But understandably other things were/are taking precedence.  Regardless, I hope they eventually do one.  All the other packages out there are good, but I don't think nearly as complete and accurate as a PMDG version would be.

[GodAtum 69]

I would love to have a home cockpit and could afford a decent jetmax or FDS one as I have sold my car. But i fly lots of different planes so it doesnt make much sense?

[OmniAtlas 93]

To the original OP, this question has been asked many times on this forum.

 

It shows there is demand for a cockpit edition. 

 

Yes, you can use the existing NGX with FSUIPC offsets, but what we need is a way to display gauges over the network. The raw data from FSX needs to be read and interpreted and translated over the network and a client application needs to be developed to display these 'undocked' gauges, ND, PFD, etc.

 

Is it too difficult to develop? I only ask because PMDG has completed the hard part of the coding -- the physics and logic of the aircraft. 

 

Right now the alternatives include prosim737, project magenta, aerosoft australia, sim avionics. 

 

They are all *very* expensive with the exception of aerosoft australia (however, with missing functions compared to the other suites). 

 

I only ask that PMDG consider developing such a software addon for their aircraft because I believe it would be pretty straight forward to implement a network gauge client with their expertise. 

[MistyBlue 8]

Been a while and just wondering if this is any closer to becoming a reality.  I know PMDG have their plate full, but I'm finally starting my hardware cockpit and it sure would be nice to be able to use the entire PMDG suite.  Their models and logic are just so good compared to others I have played with.

[Fabo 213]

You can... I don't see why not.

 

The only thing that would not "work" with PMDG NGX out the box is networked gauges... but then again, what for? Just use regular gauges. It's not as if they were some crazy resource hogs. You can even separate outside view to a different computer relatively simply if you wish, though there might be some latency.

[MistyBlue 8]

The networked gauges ARE the reason this is important.  While I probably could probably pick apart the NGX to display its screens where I want, it would come at a big performance penalty.  There is a big difference between a cockpit builder version that can be distributed across multiple computers versus separating out views on the main computer.  Particularly when you're running multiple large displays (I have 3 main displays in Portrait plus a CDU display).

 

A cockpit builder version will allow you to break out those displays and precisely place them, in particular the CDU, onto separate computers/screens easing the load on the main computer.  It also helps you maintain fluid performance of the PFD and ND which you likely wouldn't see breaking it all out on just one computer.

 

There are other things, like an instructor station allowing you to set up approaches, easily set up failures and weather, pushback, etc from a separate instructor screen.

 

Just look at any cockpit builder of a heavy jet and you'll likely find most of them run some sort of dedicated software for this, be it Sim Avionics, Project Magenta, Prosim 737, iFly Cockpit builder, etc.  There is a reason there is a market for this type of software.  Really hoping PMDG will still come to market with a version of theirs.

[ohsirus 241]

PMDG has stated before that the market for cockpit builder software is a niche within a niche. The amount of hardware/support/development time is no small undertaking and considering their primary market is not cockpit builders, there is no reason for them to dedicate the effort in making one at a price that the average home builder could afford. I don't think you can get much better than Prosim737 or IFlys CBE for complete hardware/software support as most have adopted one or the other, Don't think PMDG could bring anything ground breaking to unseat those two. Flight dynamics are debateable and once you remove the VC it's all about hardware compatible and continued support/evolution of one product, can't just stop development and move onto the next project.

[MistyBlue 8]

PMDG has stated before that the market for cockpit builder software is a niche within a niche. The amount of hardware/support/development time is no small undertaking and considering their primary market is not cockpit builders, there is no reason for them to dedicate the effort in making one at a price that the average home builder could afford. I don't think you can get much better than Prosim737 or IFlys CBE for complete hardware/software support as most have adopted one or the other, Don't think PMDG could bring anything ground breaking to unseat those two. Flight dynamics are debateable and once you remove the VC it's all about hardware compatible and continued support/evolution of one product, can't just stop development and move onto the next project.

And they have also stated it was something they wanted to do and at a much less cost. I actually think PMDG has a lot to bring to the table that could unseat the others. I have one of the other popular and expensive packages but I still miss the NGX. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

[ohsirus 241]

And they have also stated it was something they wanted to do and at a much less cost. I actually think PMDG has a lot to bring to the table that could unseat the others. I have one of the other popular and expensive packages but I still miss the NGX. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 

If you have one of the other expensive packages, I don't know what you could be missing. The VC? 

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/389784-pmdg-and-ifly737ng-cockpit-builders-edition/

Here's the last PMDG topic I found on this:

 

"First off - we produced an SDK for the first time with the NGX - there are users with "good external hardware" using it to great effect. Not sure how you can take the fact that we don't support networked gauges running on separate computers to mean we "are not the slightest interested" when 99% of hardware stuff can work with the SDK.

 

We have a business to run and people doing the networked gauge stuff are a tiny tiny fraction of an already tiny market. This would take an inordinate amount of time to do and we'd only sell a handful of copies - look at iFly's support forum for it - 120 topics in 1 year made by the same handful of people mainly. NGX forum here - 11,228 topics in just over a year..."

[MistyBlue 8]

Didn't realize they changed their tune a bit based on that post. I certainly understand. One can still hope though, and yes the other solutions are good enough if nothing comes out from PMDG.

 

Since you don't use the VC in a home cockpit that isn't a factor. Rather, a good flight model that properly integrates properly with the software would be nice, not using the default as a model. All the nuances built in by PMDG for another, particularly the autopilot and FMC. Completeness of all the systems. Quality of support. That just takes things to the next level.

 

There are also other 737 packages that are good enough so why the need for PMDG? See my point?

[ohsirus 241]

Ifly's and ProSim's Jetstream flight models all seem plausible and I'm sure both camps have pilots that swear by them. Prosim recelenty started including an Xplane Plugin so the sky's the limit.