Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

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AnthonySullivan
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Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#1 Post by AnthonySullivan »

I have just bought MS Flight Sim 2020 and managed to get it working with Air Manager.
I have spent the past year building instruments for X-Plane and achieved some success.
The trouble is I did not write code for FS2020 so I will need to go back into them and add code.
I am searching the net for Plugins for FS2020 but finding nothing so far.
a) Is there a Plugin Manager for FS2020 to show what plugins are running and turn them on and off?
b) Is there a plugin that shows the datarefs and commands for FS2020 so that you can see what is actually happening as you do in X-Plane?

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Sling
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#2 Post by Sling »

Hi Anthony,

You have been spoilt with Xplane and the dataref tool. It is by far the best way to examine sim data. MSFS does not make it as easy unfortunately. There are a few utilities that help you track down the data you need.but I’ve never found a one stop shop that I’m fully satisfied with. I find myself jumping around the net and using the dev mode trying to just find the right variable or event and then use Air Manager to analyse what the data is actually doing. For simple data the analysis is not required because it’s obvious but for more complex variables it takes some working out. Just ask Ralph what he thinks of the BCD formatted frequencies. It’s overly complex and there is little to no decent documentation. If you found Xplane dev a challenge then be prepared for more frustration if also developing for MSFS.
A lot of the tools require payment. Besides the fact that Xplane makes this aspect so much easier it also has way more data for instruments to utilise so again you’ve been spoiled. Once you get into it you’ll get a feel for what I’m eluding to here.

Good luck.

JackZ
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#3 Post by JackZ »

Completely agree about MSFS development. I am very reluctant to launch myself into this.
Finding the LVars/HVars is a kind of hit and miss.
Curious to know the tools you are mentioning Tony.

I miss the days where the Air Manager viewer in v3.X was able to find all the variables available in FSX.
My YouTube Chanel on the A320 (Real SOPs by an Airline Pilot IRL):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 0Q6SBASRqJ

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Sling
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#4 Post by Sling »

SPAD.next has a data viewer but in my experience it does not capture everything. It certainly missed lots of the MSFS events I tried. FSUIPC is another one that can help but again not perfect. Dev mode within the sim itself is another resource but you need some experience of knowing where to look and what to look for. Not all the data sources found here can be used as many of them are not exposed externally.

Not even all of these tools together are as useful as Dataref tool and Dataref editor before it. Both are totally free plugins which is absolutely brilliant. If there were a similar tool for MSFS it would certainly go down well in the community.

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jph
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#5 Post by jph »

Then there is the problem that so many of the useful vars are deprecated as stated in the SDK... :? The trouble is that there doesn't appear to be other options taking their place so the use of any of the deprecated ones - once you have found them - is subject to being non functional in future updates and no support at all is offered. It will be interesting how future updates to the SDK are affected by XBOX / PC user share. Microsoft don't have the best history to say the least. If it were not for the Pete Dowsons of this world FSX would have died out10 years ago. There are some extremely talented developers out there but how much of their work will remain compatible with future releases / 'updates' is unknown.
FSX was FAR FAR better when MS stopped doing ANY development work at all (which was almost immediately) as they laid off the ACES team. That allowed the real talent to take over in the community and have a stable, well stable in the context of 'it isn't going to change!' base to work from and work around. Unfortunately, MS are still moving the goalposts and will continue to do so, and not all for the better.
Joe. CISSP, MSc.

AnthonySullivan
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#6 Post by AnthonySullivan »

Many thanks to all of you for your replies and help. Yes I have always disliked Microsoft for its overly complex approach to computing. Why do we still have to clean up unnecessary files after each of the endless upgrades? What a breath of fresh air it was to buy my first Apple desktop. Yes I can see it is going to be difficult to work with FS2020; it is really aimed at the gaming market and not at serious flyers who want to use simulation to improve their skills. Still we all like a challenge?

AnthonySullivan
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#7 Post by AnthonySullivan »

Well I have tried using Mobiflight and Spad.next in an attempt to locate variables and events in FS2020 but with little success. I have downloaded lists of events and variables from SDK. I have explored the Developer Mode and sometimes you get lucky but mostly you don't. I have managed to add code to some of my instruments to get them working but often come up against a brick wall. What a nightmare.

If only some kind soul would give us what we have in X-Plane so that we can see when variables or events are changing as we operate something in FS2020 and we can track down the correct variable or event to use in our Lua Code. Surely someone in the Air Manager community could do this for us??

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Ralph
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#8 Post by Ralph »

FSX had a way to give all the available variables. I'm not sure if FS2020 has this as well. But if so then that might be nice to add to the Viewer in Air Manager. Although, in FSX you would also get some strange useless results, so it is certainly not the holy grail.

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Sling
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Re: Air Manager with MS Flight Sim 2020

#9 Post by Sling »

AnthonySullivan wrote: Sun Oct 31, 2021 7:29 am Well I have tried using Mobiflight and Spad.next in an attempt to locate variables and events in FS2020 but with little success. I have downloaded lists of events and variables from SDK. I have explored the Developer Mode and sometimes you get lucky but mostly you don't. I have managed to add code to some of my instruments to get them working but often come up against a brick wall. What a nightmare.

If only some kind soul would give us what we have in X-Plane so that we can see when variables or events are changing as we operate something in FS2020 and we can track down the correct variable or event to use in our Lua Code. Surely someone in the Air Manager community could do this for us??
I feel your pain. I’m currently adding fs2020 support to my Grand Caravan instruments and it’s painful. I wouldn’t bet on it getting any better. Even when you locate the events they don’t always work. Something as simple as an electrical switch should be a single event with say a published list of each ones index. All the common functions could have the same index in every aircraft and you would only need to look up those that are unique to that aircraft. It’s really not hard. But Asobo and Microsoft use this complicated bus and circuit events and variables set that is quite frankly a total nightmare to use and is enough to put anyone off. When you’ve had exposure to how easy and straightforward Xplane handles this stuff it’s like men and boys. The eye candy scenery is I have to say outstanding and a game changer but the vast majority of the rest of the sim is rubbish.

[EDIT] Forgot to mention to ask folks to up vote improvements to this. https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/en ... ons/454608

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