Shame P3D is not really supported by 3rd parties anymore

[asboyd]

I am a little underwhelmed at the dropping of P3D by most 3rd party producers. I know they need to follow the money, but some of us cannot get MSFS to work consistently and I personally hate the constant updates and amount of data needed to support it.

I have been a big fan of P3D since V2 came out and now I am using V6. It would be nice to find someone that is be willing to provide a new bridge to connect to P3D to allow me to continue using it as eye candy.

I also like X-plane but again find cost is a limiting factor when it comes to upgrading to the latest versions.

I will continue to keep trying to get my sim working without MSFS as I really find it quite annoying at times.

Cheers,
AlexB

[Bluestar]

Mr. Boyd,

I only use MSFS 2024 now and don't have any trouble with it.  I only use it for scenery and don't have any add-ons except Gary's B744s.  Let me know and I will try to help if I can.

I was using P3dv6 but went back to v5 because I build all my own airports and ADE doesn't support v6.  A new interface similar to Gary's PSX WASM would be nice.

XP-12 is nice mainly because the airports are in the correct location and the parking and taxiway lines are straight.  It also has a good program to create scenery.  I would be willing to pay for a good XP-12 interface for PSX.

[JG]

It would certainly be nice to live in a world with less Microsoft updates, poor consistency and stability. I too would be happy to pay for a solid scenery alternative to the time wasting and frustration associated with most things Microsoft. I will wait a little longer for more feedback about MSFS 2024 because my experience with 2020 has left me rather doubtful of the new versions worth.
J.G.

[Will]

I was a big skeptic of any add-on scenery generator, but I found 2020 to be good, and 2024 to be better. I have it up and running and it's now connecting seamlessly to Gary's WASM aircraft via Router and Client. I've added a modest amount to the Community folder, 7 airports now, AIG models, some scenery mods, and a seasons package. All running smoothly. Happy to lend a hand if it would help you. In addition to the scenery I mentioned, I run:

PSX (of course)
MSFS 2024 (I avoid the betas)
Navigraph Charts (for the charts and the moving map)
RealTraffic and PSXTraffic (for TCAS and visual real-world traffic)
Active Sky (which I use 75% of the time)
PSX.NET for doors and pushback
AutoFPS for maintaining FPS locked at 60, no matter what the situation is

It all runs smoothly. Again, happy to help with anything if I can.

Edit: I had some teething pains, but they weren't related to 2024 itself, which has been solid for me. By reading on the forums, I gather that most of the issues with 2024 come from things I don't use, like its Marketplace, its Career Mode, the public betas, and aircraft add-ons that have incompatibility issues. Many people also give poor marks to the GUI for binding controllers, but I only have about two things (literally, just two) bound within MSFS, just camera view controls. Every other controller binding, for joysticks and all that, is done through PSX. In sum, 2024 has been pretty painless for me.

[JG]

Hello Will, thank you so very much for offering some advice here because I have many questions.
I should have said at the outset that I am asking a lot of MSFS 2020 in my set-up which probably accounts for some of the inconsistencies I have dealt with. I want to be sure the next scenery generator I use works better than what I have now. At the time of building the sim I opted to interface using Wide PSX, it seemed simpler to setup and manage as well as still providing some virtual cockpit features so that I could still have window frame images on my monitors. Which brings me to the next point, I use multi-monitor outputs from MSFS to drive the equivalent of 3 screens on 4 monitors.
I have been wanting to switch to Gary's WASM for some time because of the wonderful support he provides and feature richness with his other add-ons. I have been waiting to see if the virtual cockpit window frames and multi-monitor support questions ever got raised without actually bothering him about it directly. I have waited because I know he has been very busy dealing with more important matters with the new 2024 interface such as altitude accuracy and so forth.
I read with interest your transition to MSFS 2024 and was impressed by your methodical approach to implementing it. I have no real interest in blazing a trail of innovation with trial and error and prefer to wait for people smarter than me, who know what their doing to make advice available.
The many questions I have are already drafted onto a document a little too large to add here but the first 2 pieces of information I need to know are related to using 2024 with WASM and multiple monitors with window frame images. The 3rd piece of information I would quite like is will 2024 run without first checking for updates. It would be a huge step forward if you could choose when you do updates and if that means running it off line until the updates are done, so be it.....but for the love of all that is holly can we have something that runs at start up with the option to either go as is offline or do the updates. I suspect not because it looks to me that 2024 is even more on line dependent than 2020.
Alex, I'm sorry I have high jacked your topic to some degree, Will perhaps I should start another thread or exchange email with you?
Regards, J.G.

[Gary Oliver]

Hi,

The window frames is on the list, but to be completely honest with you as it's not something I need it's not at the top of my things to do when I have spare time to do any development work.

Don't mean to be selfish it's just unfortunately that I don't have much time to dedicate to development at the moment so other things always take priority.

If there's anyone else on the forum who feel s inclined we need to get the internal cockpit model setup in the config files (I was planning to use the default 748 cockpit)

I got as far as getting the model to show but in the wrong place without any textures.

maybe we can get the posky cockpit in instead?

Cheers
G

[JG]

Gary,
Thanks for responding, I completely understand your position and as stated, didn't wish to bother you with window frames at this time understanding the priorities favour other matters. The flavour of 744/748 would be of no relevance to me because I would only use the window frames, but my sim would be odd without them. I am happy to wait and see what, if  anything, develops and I have no time line for a change over.
I'll take this opportunity to thank you for all you do for us and continue to watch and wonder at the array of exciting add-ons you create.
Cheers, J.G.   

[Will]

Hi J.G.,

I can't help with your question about MSFS 2024 across multiple screens; I don't use a virtual cockpit.

As to mandatory updates, 2024 launched in November and so far, there has only been one mandatory update. The downloadable portion is small, so the update goes really fast. MSFS 2020 used to have mandatory updates that were much larger; they would take a huge amount of time and basically keep you locked out of your sim for a whole evening. 2024 doesn't do that.

There is an optional public beta program, which has more frequent updates. I don't participate in the beta.

[Daniel Neugebauer]

I would be willing to pay for a good XP-12 interface for PSX.

I'm still working on virtual cockpit integration to the default Laminar B744 model previously included with XP11; hopefully I will finally be able to release it sometime over the next months. The scope of my project is only to substitute the cockpit side of PSX integration, i.e. what you would normally build a cockpit for (displays, switches, ...). While I wanted to avoid crossing into the realm of a traditional "scenery generator" the virtual cockpit may rekindle interest in using XP for PSX and it will definitely attract several new users who shied away from buying PSX so far.

My main holdup is license clarification and preparing the associated projects for public release/distribution, the cockpit itself is mostly usable by now. No need to pay anything, the projects will all be released as open source under MIT license.

[JG]

Thanks Will, In the land of the worlds slowest Internet speeds, an update could take your sim down for an entire day....at least maybe that has been addressed. Can you confirm with 2024 and WASM you still don't see windshield effects like rain drops and wipers etc?
Kurt, if you're watching, I read you were planning a 2024 based three screen projection. Can you give some insight into 2024 multi-screen implementation or are you doing 3 instances of 2024?
Cheers, J.G. 

[Will]

I have not seen any windshield effects.

[JG]

Thanks Will. Kurt if you reply it might be polite if we move our conversation to the thread you started outlining the details of your sim setup.
Cheers, J.G.

[Kurt]

Thanks Will. Kurt if you reply it might be polite if we move our conversation to the thread you started outlining the details of your sim setup.
Cheers, J.G.

Hey Guys - Not started on the 3 projectors setup yet as I have to basically turn my sim 180 degrees in the room to be able to allocate 50% of the room to screens . Anyhow FS2024 AFAIK is unfortunately not very good for a multicrew setup if you are using 3 screens/tv´s etc as the viewpoint cannot be set "off center" correctly. I have currently done a workaround with special camerasetting and then turning the viewpoint manually towards who ever is pilot flying - it gives bad distortions on the ground up close but fine at diostance and definately not visible after takeoff.

X-Plane has the right settings but once you go FS2024 the visuals are very very hard to beat.

@Gary - How have you solved the viewpoint issue to make sure PF have the right perspective in your sim? - you also have one reflection screen centered in you cockpit as far I I understand?

Cheers

Kurt

[JG]

Thanks Kurt, You have confirmed what I suspected from reading the none too complimentary feedback about MSFS 2024 multi-screen capability. From all reports it is even worse than 2020. Think I'm going to give Xplane a go.
I get around the POV problem just using the camera position in 2020 and by being able to switch to the PSX windscreen once close to the deck if things still don't look right.
Cheers, J.G.

[Gary Oliver]

Kurt,

I use 3 x projectors each one on its own PC (hence WASM supports as many clients a you want)

I then use Fly Elise Immersive Calibration Pro to do a geometrically correct warp, part of this config allows you to define an X,Y,Z offset of the pilots seat from the centre of the cockpit, this then means the view is perfectly aligned for the captain.

Cheers
G

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

Just because I don't know the details of MSFS etc.

If you use three PCs for the visuals, then there probably are items such as individual cumulus clouds that are not identical between screens?

[JG]

Would love to know if anyone out there has tried Gary's method but with LCD screens and Fly Elise Immersive LCD?
J.G.

[Gary Oliver]

Just because I don't know the details of MSFS etc.

If you use three PCs for the visuals, then there probably are items such as individual cumulus clouds that are not identical between screens?

Nope everything lines up perfectly (much to my suprise) as long as the time is synced between the PC's.

[Kurt]

Kurt,

I use 3 x projectors each one on its own PC (hence WASM supports as many clients a you want)

I then use Fly Elise Immersive Calibration Pro to do a geometrically correct warp, part of this config allows you to define an X,Y,Z offset of the pilots seat from the centre of the cockpit, this then means the view is perfectly aligned for the captain.

Cheers
G

Ahh yes - Fly Elise is the key here - will explore their solution - it is minor for me now as my focus currently is on finishing  the cockpit it self but will explore when focus shifts to the vislual system to replace my single 85" TV later this year.

Thanks Gary (and also special thanks for the PSX.EFB - I no longer use any apps on PC during flying on VATSIM as PSX.EFP on my Getac F110 has fully displaced the need to use a PC for the aux apps)