Hey everyone,

One of the best & most useful pop-up gauges in FSX was Glenn Copeland's Cockpit Commander (pic below). This little thing made entering ALT, HDG, CRS, VS, IAS & radio frequencies a breeze.

For example to set ALT to 20,000 feet you just press the [2] followed by [0] and then press the [K] button and boom 20,000 is set the ALT. No crazy pressing or scrolling painful rotary manipulators. Same for stuff like headings, VS etc. 

Is there such an addon for MSFS? A sort of "Universal autopilot" with similar input functionality? 

Thanks 🙂

 

Edited June 9, 20214 yr by ThrottleUp

I haven't seen anything about like that, but these are the type of things that pop up as freeware on flightsim.to occasionally.

If someone can code something as complex as add-ons linker, then this would not be beyond those clever coders out there.

I must admit, this was a little annoyance of mine also, but I ended up getting a relatively inexpensive Saitek autopilot panel.  Even more immersive, as it is tactile, and you dont need a popup window in your flight sim then.

Looks good, I want one!  Unfortunately my coding skills are not up to this.☹️

Possibly useful.
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/124118-dashboard-utility

4 hours ago, essex said:

Possibly useful.
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/124118-dashboard-utility

Thanks I'm checking that out now. First impressions from seeing the description is that it is more of an information tool rather than a tool that lets you input data (like ALT, HDG etc) as I dont see a field where those numbers would show. Nevertheless I will try it out thanks for the info. The flightsim.to link in case someone's interested:

https://flightsim.to/file/14163/db2-dashboard-2

There is also this https://flightsim.to/file/2828/msfs-mobile-companion-app

 

I've not tired it myself and it runs on a secondary device like a phone or a tablet but it looks like it allows you to set controls from the app to the cockpit.

53 minutes ago, Andayle said:

There is also this https://flightsim.to/file/2828/msfs-mobile-companion-app

 

I've not tired it myself and it runs on a secondary device like a phone or a tablet but it looks like it allows you to set controls from the app to the cockpit.

This tool is pretty good, and you can hit the interface with a phone or another computer as its web based. It will let you type in frequencies etc. There's even panels specifically made for FBW, CRJ, and a few others. 

Edited June 10, 20214 yr by mattn

What a strange request 😉. Developers  have brought us these recent years  amazing virtual cockpits - we feel like we are in there -  and you ask for a 2D window which would have been the addon of the year in 2002 when VC were barely functional, screen resolution coarser than today and monitor smaller

To each its own I suppose. But let me add a suggestion. To adapt the idea to our day and age we should rather have something like Siri on iPhone/iPad. "Hey Siri, tune my com1 to 118.675". Vocal command. Wouldn't it be cool ?

43 minutes ago, Dominique_K said:

What a strange request 😉. Developers  have brought us these recent years  amazing virtual cockpits - we feel like we are in there -  and you ask for a 2D window which would have been the addon of the year in 2002 when VC were barely functional, screen resolution coarser than today and monitor smaller

Working the buttons and knobs on most of the MSFS virtual cockpits is pure torture. Trying to adjust heading or altitude while the plane is overly buffeted and thrown around is difficult and sometimes impossible. I'd welcome a popup like the OP describes.

47 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

Working the buttons and knobs on most of the MSFS virtual cockpits is pure torture. Trying to adjust heading or altitude while the plane is overly buffeted and thrown around is difficult and sometimes impossible. I'd welcome a popup like the OP describes.

I must humbly admit that I fly my aircraft mostly by hand, no A/P, and the ATC automatically changes the frequencies for me 😁. Now, if the weather is so bad that you can't reach a dial or switch shouldn't you disconnect the A/P  anyway  ?

7 hours ago, Andayle said:

There is also this https://flightsim.to/file/2828/msfs-mobile-companion-app

 

I've not tired it myself and it runs on a secondary device like a phone or a tablet but it looks like it allows you to set controls from the app to the cockpit.

Thank you, I will check this out, sounds like it might just do the trick!

5 hours ago, Dominique_K said:

What a strange request 😉. Developers  have brought us these recent years  amazing virtual cockpits - we feel like we are in there -  and you ask for a 2D window which would have been the addon of the year in 2002 when VC were barely functional, screen resolution coarser than today and monitor smaller

To each its own I suppose. But let me add a suggestion. To adapt the idea to our day and age we should rather have something like Siri on iPhone/iPad. "Hey Siri, tune my com1 to 118.675". Vocal command. Wouldn't it be cool ?

The pic posted is from FSX so of course it will look dated. Im not saying use that UI for MSFS! I love virtual cockpits as much as anyone but I am NOT a fan of zooming into knobs and buttons. I am learning the hotkeys for setting the AP which will take some of the pain away of those torture-inducing rotary knobs and weeny little buttons on the Garmins 🙄  No complaints IRL but on a screen with a mouse no thanks!

4 hours ago, Twenty6 said:

Working the buttons and knobs on most of the MSFS virtual cockpits is pure torture. Trying to adjust heading or altitude while the plane is overly buffeted and thrown around is difficult and sometimes impossible. I'd welcome a popup like the OP describes.

Exactly my thoughts. What difference does it make if the selected ALT is sent to the system via the Garmin knob or a utility that you can quickly input the ALT and then close with a hotkey. Done 🙂 Learning the hotkeys for the default AP commands is helping a lot though!