Helios In P3D?

[nimrod77 0]

@ the OP - I have Helios, but have not set it up for P3D. I would imagine no different than FSX, and I've used it with the NGX.

Is there any chance that you could give Helios a try in P3D of you are able and let me know if it works for you? Is like to buy the touch screen for this but I don't want to buy one and have it be unusable.

Thanks for the reply!

[Kattz 132]

It will be a little while - I'm out of the country right now.

[nimrod77 0]

Thanks Kattz

[Kattz 132]

I was NOT able to get the software working in P3D.  It had been iffy in FSX, so I didn't have much confidence.  HOWEVER... I was able to undock and drag a few panels from the iFly 737 onto the touchscreen and they worked OK - not awesome, but they worked.  I would still try the TP if your bank account can afford it.  I used one for quite some time for my CDU and radios in the NGX until I bought a Flightdeck Solutions CDU. 

 

Best,

 

Kev

[nimrod77 0]

Thanks for the info Kev.

I really appreciate it. I may still grab a touch screen, I'll just have to see if the budget stretches far enough.

Thanks again

[ctec1 6]

Its been a couple years since I made a profile for the DCS Warthog so I forgot most of what I learned about using Helios but this thread got me tinkering with it again. Just for the hell of it I threw a gear lever into a profile and bound it to send a keyboard command (g). Saved it , fired up P3DV2.2 and gave it a shot. Swiping the gear lever did work in P3D.

 

There is no built in interface for FSX/P3D in Helios so youre limited to binding keystrokes to your controls but it will work.

 

BTW, you dont need a touchscreen to use Helios. You can just create a quick profile and use your mouse to activate your desired controls.

 

The latest version of Helios doesnt have a manual provided with it so you'll have to check and see if you can get an older version from Gadrocks site, one that may have an outdated manual. Google may be your best friend playing around with Helios.

[Kattz 132]

Thanks, Ctec1, I didn't have any luck with it, but I'm not an experienced user.  It took me a month to get my radios working in the NGX with it.  Thank you for answering the OP's question!

[nimrod77 0]

Thanks guys. I will let you know if I have any success with Helios in the future. If you guys get any success, please keep me in the loop.

Cheers

[Hippo 34]

I use Helios with P3D, but in a very limited way.  I have a second monitor with Thrustmaster MFDs stuck over them.  Helios is very useful to me for producing overlays (text labels) which I can turn on and off using joystick buttons to remind me what all the buttons do.  I also have overlays that I can bring up to remind me what my Cougar joystick / saitek throttle buttons I have assigned to do what.  With my poor memory and different configs for many different planes this can be very useful.   For this sort of usage it works perfectly without any interference or discernible loss of frame rate.

 

There is no Helios interface for P3D (unfortunately), so Helios P3D gauges are currently a no-no (please someone correct me if I'm wrong).  I would expect switches to work using keystrokes, but I don't do this, as I find it's better  just to use (or create) P3D 2D panels for this.

 

I've been using Helios with DCS World for a while and it really is a wonderful app.  I get the impression that the developer is no longer updating it, which is a real shame.  An FSX/P3D/FSUIPC interface would be fantastic.

[ctec1 6]

 

Video of Helios, VRS Bug and FSX.

[nimrod77 0]

Thanks guys. Hippo, AFAIK Helios is just an overlay, it doesn't display gauges at all. The gauges are FSX / P3D displays with the overlays on top.

Ctec, that's the kind of thing I'm thinking. It'll be great when VRS get their Super bug into P3D.

[Hippo 34]

 

 

Thanks guys. Hippo, AFAIK Helios is just an overlay, it doesn't display gauges at all

 

For FSX/P3D that's right.  For the A10 and KA50 in DCS (and Falcon 4 BMS) it certainly does do gauges.  Hence my comments earlier about wouldn't it be great if the dev could put in an interface to FSUIPC.

 

Check out this guy's setup. (almost) All the gauges are Helios gauges - Helios "talks to" DCS World and pulls the data to feed to its gauges.

[nimrod77 0]

I did not know that. Thanks for the info Hippo! That looks awesome in DCS. To bad that can't be achieved in P3D at the moment. Touch screen glass cockpit is by far the easiest and cheapest way to get a physically interactive cockpit IMHO. Building a full size cockpit is, for most, outside the realms of reality.