After a few days of tinkering I’m getting there in having my home cockpit function in FS2020. Still no side windows (those screens are out of frame here), but thanks to being able to pop-out the PFD and MFD I was able to drag those over to other screens (an iPad via Duet and the RealSimGear 530 screen). The Yoko yokes and Saitek rudders work fine, as does the Saitek trim wheel, and I was able to bind the hat switch on the yoke to custom camera views that make up (poorly) for the lack of side windows (being able to look over each wing, 45 degrees behind, etc.). All those Saitek FIPs work via SPAD.next but the current simconnect problems (as documented elsewhere) kill frames so those are off. I was also able to get the FlightIllusion radio stack to connect to the sim via their FSX plugin, but that too relies on simconnect and FSUIPC. There’s a set of five rotary encoders from Desktop Aviator that the sim is seeing as sending keyboard inputs that I’ve been able to bind to heading bug, altitude bug, OBS etc. although FS2020 seems to read them as sending inconsistent keystrokes, so more troubleshooting to do there. But the bottom line is that, at least for my setup, the sim is two updates away from taking a significant leap forward: multi-monitor support for camera views and simconnect that doesn’t crater frames. Updates from RealSimGear and Air Manager will help immensely as I’ll be able to have more six-pack options and will be able to bind the buttons and rotary encoders on the 430 and 530 to make flight plan entry much easier. All this is to say that I actually got farther setting this up than I expected to, and while I’ll be using X-Plane to practice IFR work today on PilotEdge (I’m instrument rated real-world), for me at least I’m enjoying FS2020 and am hopeful about its future in my sim. It will be interesting to see how committed MSFT is to home cockpit builders as the future unfolds.

Looks good. We run the zibo 737 in xplane 11 on 3 tvs using air manager to run the gauges and panels on separate monitors, webfmc pro to run the FMS on iPads for touch screen use, and Garmin pilot for navigation on a large ipad. when all 3 of those work in FS2020 (or something like them) then we'll be able to move to it as the new home cockpit platform but right now xplane 11 is still better for a home cockpit.

I'm hoping in a few months there is an out-the-front-window view without the Virtual cockpit visible, as we have built our own window struts and just need a clean forward view to go "outside" our cockpit windows.

That's looking really good. When the simconnect issues get solved I bet you're in for a lot of fun flying like this.