Struggling to get that first switch operating

[RobWhightNZ 3]

Folks,

 

I'm after that first pointer to get things going from which I believe I'll be able to get there myself. I've been trawling forums and manuals for days and can't seem to unpick this - if you know of a thread, here or elsewhere, that answers this, a pointer to it would be gratefully received.

 

My Setup

I'm running P3d 2.5 on my main computer (called "Flight1"). I have FSUIPC and Wideclient (registered versions) installed and working fine. I'm running the PMDG 737 (though will ultimately want to expand what I'm doing here to other aircraft in so far as that is possible). I have installed LINDA 2.6.3 on this PC.

 

I have a second PC ("Flight 2") on which I run, FS Global Real Weather, FS Commander - all working fine. On this PC I also run SIOC (OpenCockpits software) and have built my own MCP using the USB interface, Mastercard, etc. Note that the OC Hardware is connected to Flight2 not the main P3D operating computer, Flight1.

 

Background

I have reached the stage where I am able to read the status of the PMDG MCP LEDS (e.g. CMD_A lit or not) and replicate this fine on my own hardware. I've done this using the SIOC code to read the status via WideClient/FSUIPC. This bit (after some head scratching to get there !) is fine.

 

I can also operate the switches/buttons on my hardware and see the state change in the SIOC monitor, so I know the wiring at the end is correct.

 

My difficulty

I now understand that you can't programme (i.e. read a switch state and send it to the PMDG 737 in a similar way to how you read the status of items. From the reading I have done, I understand I will need to use LINDA and/or FSUIPC ".evt" (event) programming. Now this is where I'm getting stuck and would appreciate some insights from others.

 

A few questions (that may be wide of the mark but will probably tell you where I'm at trying to hunt this down)

I have installed LINDA on Flight1 (main P3D running computer) - is this the correct place to put it ? (I believe so)

How can I link a state change on my hardware (that I can see in SIOC monitor) to the process of sending the command to the PMDG ?

Does anyone know of any examples that would lead me through this ? Even a simple one that says "put this file here, change this value to coorrespond to your switch input and this one to the PMDG offset value from the SDK and it will work", just for one switch, would be great - I could then build off of this

 

What I'm not necessarily after

I'm not really after a "download this and it will do it answer" though I accept that this may assist me in unpicking things. Given that I'm building my own hardware from the ground up (no pun intended !), I need to understand this so that I can do different/odd things later if required.

 

Thanks for your patience folks and I look forward to that "key" that will unlock the next step for me.

 

Cheers,

Rob

[ScotFlieger 280]

Hi Rob

 

Welcome to LINDA and for your very detailed question. I have no experience of using 2 PCs with the hardware on the 'remote' system. I am not sure I can answer you question or give you a simple plug and play answer. I certainly don't have a key, others may.

 

You are correct that FSUIPC4 and LINDA should be in the P3D/modules folder on Flight1. To my knowledge FSUIPC4/LINDA require the hardware to be connected to you primary PC. The WideClient I believe allows auxiliary applications to run and communicate on secondary PCs. To test that your FSUIPC4/LINDA setup is working I would suggest you set up a basic joystick on Flight1 to make sure that this works and button presses are detected.

 

For further guidance I can tell you that FSUIPC4 is the main interface between FSX/P3D and all other add-ons including LINDA. LINDA provides a simple way of taking an input from a device (joystick button), applying an action (function) in response and sending a command to back to the Sim. It relies on the SDK supplied by the aircraft developer and implemented in that aircraft's module written specifically for LINDA. In your case it is the PMDG 737NGX module. LINDA has no ability to control indicators, displays or lights except for the VRI Combo panels and some Saitek panels.

 

After checking a directly connected device, I would check that FSUIPC4 is receiving inputs (button pushes) from Flight2 via the SIOC software and WideClient. If this is not the case then LINDA cannot work with those inputs.