I came across a tutorial written in 2006 on flightsim outlining a tool that I had never heard of: MBRuler. I tried it and was so impressed I wrote a mini-review of it, which I quote here:
MBRuler Plotting Tutorial
Filename: fsplottu.zip
Available: on flightsim.com here
This is an excellent tutorial for a remarkable application — MBRuler. This tool is a triangular screen ruler that can measure distance and angles — not only from flight simulator maps, but also on-screen from other non-flight simulator programs. For example, it can be used to accurately place a gauge on a panel — accurately measuring coordinates to the level of the individual pixel.
The package includes an extremely comprehensive and useful tutorial in a PDF file as well as version 3.0 of the MBRuler software developed by Markius Bader. Fortunately, despite being written in 2006, the latest version of the MBRuler application (version 5.4) is still available from the author's web site: https://www.markus-bader.de/MB-Ruler/index.php
This tutorial by legendary gauge maker Glenn Copeland provides all the necessary information of how to apply MBRuler to a flight simulator — in this case, FS2004, though it could be used for any version of flight simulator. The triangular screen ruler can determine headings, bearings, and distances directly from the charts that reside within Microsoft Flight Simulator. The ruler can be rotated to adjust for magnetic variation. One can draw a line representing a radial from say an airport or a VOR or NDB and to another, and the ruler will show the distance and the heading.
When I first started MBRuler a help file in German opened up, but it was a simple procedure to find the minimized icon on the taskbar and open options to set the language to English.
Overall, a very useful tutorial for a very useful tool.