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tonywob

Questions for X-Plane experts :-)

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I'm reaching out to any X-Plane old-timers/experts on this forum to see if the following things are possible:

 

1) Can I make the car lights show all during the day. In Poland, we have to have lights on 24/7, even when it's sunny. I find the lights make the scenery seem more alive.

 

2) I'm guessing the answer to this is probably no, but has anyone found a way to control dials with the mouse wheel. If not, is there a way to assign a key, so that if I hover over the dial, I can use the keyboard for +/-. The current system is really difficult to use, and I have to pause the sim just to change a frequency, or adjust a dial. It took me nearly a minute to try and hit the exact heading I needed, and there must be an easier way.

 

Googling hasn't bought me any answers, so I'm hoping someone has found a way. I really want to be able to do full flights in the Saab 340A, without continually pausing it.

 

 

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Hi Tony,

 

I'm by no means an XP expert or even a seasoned veteran :)

 

I can't answer your first question, but I asked your second question quite a while ago.  My understanding is that XPX is made not only for Windows but also for the Mac OS-  and since the Mac doesn't have a mousewheel (I don't know why, maybe it's proprietary to MS..), the mouse wheel is ignored in XP (it would require 2 versions of the sim otherwise).  I do agree with you that changing knob positions is hard in XP,a s it involves "dragging".....  it has turned me off XPs everal times but I always come back due to it's superior aeronautical modelling (my opinion only).

 

Others here no doubt know more than I...  :)

 

Bruce.

 

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Thanks for the link to that post.

 

    In the past people have said that there was a technical reason why the mouse wheel couldnt be used.

 

    As it turns out they wont give us the option because they knwo better.   The mouse wheel IS the way to turn knobs.

 

    They say it can be done but they dont think it should be done.

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2) I'm guessing the answer to this is probably no, but has anyone found a way to control dials with the mouse wheel. If not, is there a way to assign a key, so that if I hover over the dial, I can use the keyboard for +/-. The current system is really difficult to use, and I have to pause the sim just to change a frequency, or adjust a dial. It took me nearly a minute to try and hit the exact heading I needed, and there must be an easier way.

 

 

Don't know if you already know this but here is what I do:

Normally I use the assign-key feature which lets you assign a specific view of the aircraft using the Ctrl+num-pad number, this way it makes it easier to switch to that view (using the assigned num-pad number) and make the necessary changes without having to pause. This has worked for me pretty well.

 

 

As it turns out they wont give us the option because they knwo better.   The mouse wheel IS the way to turn knobs

 

I find the use of the mouse wheel to zoom in and out around the cockpit a lot better then moving buttons. With all honesty, I don't have any issues with dragging the mouse to change frequencies.


Windows 11 | Asus Z690-P D4 | i7 12700KF 5.2GHz | 32GB G.Skill (XMP II) | EVGA 3060Ti FTW Ultra | TrackIr v5 | Honeycomb Alfa + Bravo

 

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I find the use of the mouse wheel to zoom in and out around the cockpit a lot better then moving buttons. With all honesty, I don't have any issues with dragging the mouse to change frequencies.

 

   For sure, I dont mind that you think that!

 

   I cant think of too many games where the mouse wheel is hardcoded and not an option.  I dont see why it cannot be an option, especially useful if modifiers can be used with the mousewheel.

 

    Even so, radios and navs have never really been good in games no matter how you do it.

 

     The best thing really is to buy a $30 game controller board and a bunch of rotaries and mount them then set them up in game.

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Don't know if you already know this but here is what I do:

Normally I use the assign-key feature which lets you assign a specific view of the aircraft using the Ctrl+num-pad number, this way it makes it easier to switch to that view (using the assigned num-pad number) and make the necessary changes without having to pause. This has worked for me pretty well.

 

Just remember that if you're using TrackIR you have to get out of TrackIR enabled mode first. Pre-selected views won't work while you've got TrackIR enabled.


 

 

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 I dont see why it cannot be an option,

 

Agreed!

 

 

Pre-selected views won't work while you've got TrackIR enabled.

 

Don't have TrackIr myself and this is probably why zooming with the mouse wheel works best for me. Good point though!


Windows 11 | Asus Z690-P D4 | i7 12700KF 5.2GHz | 32GB G.Skill (XMP II) | EVGA 3060Ti FTW Ultra | TrackIr v5 | Honeycomb Alfa + Bravo

 

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The trackir is actually in interesting point when talking to developers and how easy to use things are.

 

    When I fly I always use trackir.   Radios in xplane are very hard to use with trackir.

 

    When I am doing development and in and out of the sim I dont use trackir at all so the views are stable and then things are a lot easier.

 

     I wonder if the devs use trackir at all when judging how easy things like this are to use.

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 I wonder if the devs use trackir at all when judging how easy things like this are to use.

 

I doubt that they do.


Windows 11 | Asus Z690-P D4 | i7 12700KF 5.2GHz | 32GB G.Skill (XMP II) | EVGA 3060Ti FTW Ultra | TrackIr v5 | Honeycomb Alfa + Bravo

 

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  " For sure, I dont mind that you think that!

 

   I cant think of too many games where the mouse wheel is hardcoded and not an option.  I dont see why it cannot be an option, especially useful if modifiers can be used with the mousewheel.

 

    Even so, radios and navs have never really been good in games no matter how you do it.

 

     The best thing really is to buy a $30 game controller board and a bunch of rotaries and mount them then set them up in game."

 

Agreed 100%. You spend way too much time diddling with mouse clicks than you would rw and that is a huge problem for any sim.

 

Problem for me-I invested quite a bit in an elite avionics panel 2000 which has no driver for xplane, and the wonderful desktopaviator garmin hardware for garmin 430-which of course the reality xp garmin no longer works in 64 bit. My Go flight gf-lgt at least works-but the present system of tuning radios etc. is extremely cubersome at best. Nice when the user can choose for themselves the most satisfying way to do what is the worst part of flight simming on a desktop.

 

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I had a lot of goflight panels at one point, they worked well for the most part but I ended up selling them some time ago.  Since then I have made my own but for military sims, not civ.

 

   I would like to have something again so my last post has got me thinking that maybe I could do one panel combining radio, nav, autopilot and maybe a few other things - OBS etc.

 

   You will know on the goflight radio (may know anyway) that it has a dual concentric encoder for the radio.   They are fairly expensive and use more inputs on a game controller.

 

    I have used another encoder before which is a rotary encoder which is also a push button.   It is very east to turn and it is also very easy to turn while holding it in.  So in some other sims you can  set it to tune the coarse freq number by turning while holding in and tune fine freq by turning without pushing it in.

 

     It works really well and is much cheaper than the dual concentric encoders.

 

     Trouble is I dont know how to make this work in xplane?  Anyone know.

 

     Essentially one joystick button is a modifier so that another button performs one action when pressed by itself and another action when pressed with the modifier?

 

      Would like to know.   I might just break out the laser and engrave myself a new panel for the civ sims.

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Essentially one joystick button is a modifier so that another button performs one action when pressed by itself and another action when pressed with the modifier?

 

This would actually be a good solution and would work for me, as I could use a modifier on the joystick to change the throttle to the mixture, etc. Also I could change the hat switch into a way of changing frequencies. If they're not going to allow mouse-wheel tuning, then this could be the next best thing.

 

I'm really limited in space at home and move home a lot due to work, and buying lots of controllers really isn't an option for me. I hope the devs will come up with a solution one day.

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There's a small payware utility called XSmartCom .. by the same guys who are working at integrating the free KLN90B GPS unit into various planes 3D panels.

It's very basic, but allows you to use the number pad on your keyboard to just type in the frequencies you want for COM, NAV, ADF etc.

For those who use TrackIR all the time (I do .. won't fly without it! :)), this utility is very handy!


 

 

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There's a small payware utility called XSmartCom .. by the same guys who are working at integrating the free KLN90B GPS unit into various planes 3D panels.

 

Just what I was looking for, thank you  :good:

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