PS1 - X-Plane Interface is here

[mikeindevon]

You can download a package containing the files, the documentation and some pretty pictures from my website www.larkshayes.com.

In the left-hand menu you will see "Website".  Click on that and log in using:

username = PSPilot
password  = last word on page 209 of the PS13a manual

You will then find a heading "Flight Simulation" and under that you will find the link to the files.

There is just the Windows version there at the moment.

I think it is best to use X-Plane V9 at the moment.  V10 has some problems with certain graphics cards.

If you don't want to install it at the moment, have a look at some of the screen shots.

Mike

[Roel Raeven]

Wow, I haven't used PS! for a couple of years, but using X-Plane instead. It;s time to dig up my PS! manual, install Boxer on my Mac and hit the road. Now I have to find some spare time. Luckily next week Carnaval (Fasching) is over here, that will give me 2 days.

Edit: any chance to compile it also for Osx?

[Hardy Heinlin]

Mike, thank you!

I just downloaded your zip and watched the screen shots, but I cannot install it yet as I don't have the required software. -- I just wanted to thank you for now :-)


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[John Golin]

Well done Mike! Thankyou!

[stekeller]

Another vote for OSX here!

- Stekeller
RJAA (temporarily)

[Cedric Groux]

any chance to compile it also for Osx?

What is missing right now to compile a Mac version of the plugin is... a Mac  

Compiling the plugin for Mac should be quite straightforward as both Linux and OSX are largely POSIX-compliant (and Linux version already works fine). At worst, this it's just about adapting 1 or 2 system calls.

Cedric

[Pierre Theillere]

Hi Mike and Cedric!

Congrats to both you, for your work! It's quite sad I no longer have any Windows computer nor any PS1 setup for testing your software! I may sound a bit crazy to try and make a "purely non-Windows" flight deck for based on PSx... and in the future adding X-Plane visuals, maybe!
The good point is: it may be quite "easy" to adapt what you've done to get it work for PSx!

[stekeller]

Well, I have a Mac, but no programming knowledge. Surely someone here could help with that?!

There is a lot of talent and knowledge in these forum members.

- Stekeller
RJAA (temporarily)

[J D ADAM]

Hi Mike

 Thank you for your efforts.

Will your program work with x-plane 8.60?

I am having problems connecting  -  but then that would not be unusual for me!!!


Derek
NZAA

[Garry Richards]

Congratulations, Mike! Haven't installed it or xplane yet but your documentation and screenshots impress greatly. Looks like PSX will have a good interface to xplane.

[mikeindevon]

Will your program work with x-plane 8.60?

Hi Derek,

I haven't got that version installed any more.  Go into the plugins menu (top right), click through to settings, and if you see the settings window then you are probably ok.

With regard to connecting, run ipconfig on your PS1 machine and check the IP address.  In my settings window, change the IP if necessary and click connect.  It usually takes about 10 seconds as there is a wait in there to stop it checking the connection too frequently.

Mike

[mikeindevon]

What about a MAC version?

As Cedric says, there are probably a dozen very localised places where OS specific code is used.  The three areas are thread handling, TCP/IP stuff, and a clock function.  A typical example is:

Code Select Expand

void Win32Thread::join()
{
#ifdef IBM //Windows version
WaitForSingleObject(m_hThread, INFINITE);
#else
pthread_join(m_hThread, NULL);
#endif
}
We would be happy to publish the relevant code if somebody wants to step up to the task.  With the right expertise I am sure the job could be done in a few hours.

Mike

[Cedric Groux]

Will your program work with x-plane 8.60?

Short response: Not currently.
Long response: The plugin is compiled to use the X-Plane API v2 (X-Plane 9.00 and newer) and uses the 'fat plugin' storage model. I can't say easily if it would be possible to compile the plugin for API v1, and if it's worth the time.
You can find more info there: http://www.xsquawkbox.net/xpsdk/mediawiki/BuildInstall#1.0_or_2.0_API

Cedric

edit: URL fixed

[J D ADAM]

Thanks Cedric.   Think I will have to stick to FS9 for eye candy

Cheers

Derek
NZAA

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hi Mike,

just thinking of future X-Plane-PSX links ...

Unlike PS1 which had flat runways, PSX simulates slopes based on database runway threshold elevations.

On the ground, the aircraft pitch should agree with the slope.

In case X-Plane uses different slope data, PSX may taxi along the terrain of the external scenery instead of its internal terrain model.

Does your system know the present slope under the aircraft wheels at the current heading?

If so, I'll try to provide an injectable slope variable that will override PSX's internal slope.

Or does your system only know the present elevation at the current position?

If so, PSX will overwrite its internal elevation by the injected elevation and will compute a slope based on the current groundspeed and the elevation drift. This has a minor side-effect, however: When the ground speed tends to zero, the slope tends to zero as well (there's no elevation drift when the aircraft parks). Anyway, this method is already available.


Cheers,

|-|ardy

[Roel Raeven]

Cedric,
I have QT installed on my iMac and can try to compile. Haven't done any C++ for ages, so maybe a bit rusty. Just let me know if I can be at any help.

[markus]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the interface software. Unfortunately i cannot get the plugin started by x-plane. The file log.txt in the root x-plane directory says:

M:\\X-Plane 9\\Resources\\plugins\\PS1 Interface\\win.xpl : Error Code = 126 : The specified module could not be found.

I googled the error code and it looks like some dynamic linked dll might be missing on my system.

I'm running Win7 Professional 64bit.

Any ideas?

Thank you
Markus

[Cedric Groux]

Does your system know the present slope under the aircraft wheels at the current heading?

X-Plane API provides both the altitude and the slope (it provides the vector normal to the terrain). It's done by 'probing' the terrain at a given location. More info there:
http://www.xsquawkbox.net/xpsdk/mediawiki/XPLMScenery

@Derek: 'Terrin probing' is an example of a feature that is only present in API v2 (X-Plane v9.00 an above).

Cedric

edit: URL fixed

[Cedric Groux]

I have QT installed on my iMac and can try to compile. Haven't done any C++ for ages, so maybe a bit rusty. Just let me know if I can be at any help.

Roel,

Thanks for the proposal. I let Mike answer you as he now is the plugin owner (I'm just helping him on some system-specific parts of the code).

Cedric

[mikeindevon]

M:X-Plane 9ResourcespluginsPS1 Interfacewin.xpl : Error Code = 126 : The specified module could not be found.

I googled the error code and it looks like some dynamic linked dll might be missing on my system.

Hi Markus,

win.xpl is actually the .dll. X-plane requires it to have the .xpl extension for some reason.

In Log.txt there is an entry "Fetching plugins for" ...
Mine says:
Loaded: D:\\X-Plane\\X-Plane 9.6\\Resources\\plugins\\PluginAdmin\\win.xpl.
Loaded: D:\\X-Plane\\X-Plane 9.6\\Resources\\plugins\\PS1 Interface\\win.xpl.
What does yours say?
Does x-plane run at all?
Are you running a full version or the demo version?  Maybe plugins are not available in the demo.
What is in your ../plugin/PS1 Interface/ subdirectory?

I am running W7 Professional 64-bit too so that shouldn't be a problem.  Give me all the info you

Mike