I like to share with all you this video which show our sim (Project Magenta Based) with our new visual and some systems. The visual is a 8.5m curved screen with more or less 225º. I hope you enjoy!

Just as a note, I like the forum, there have been great examples where customers have helped each other.

I would like to point out that as much as I would like to follow each and every post here, there is no structure whatsoever: I have to ask for more details, which sim hardware etc… it slows down things for everyone. Also, I have to prioritize things and assign them to work groups. I can’t do this in the forum.

Although it is not as complete as I would like it to be, I am using the Ticket System as a reference for the “things to do” and please, if possible, use it as well to post and track their progress.

I notice how I am artificially keeping back some things because “oh there was also that post in the forum” and the perceived sense of urgency on my side seems to be greater here because it is public.

Also, if you have long overdue tickets in your list (click on Support to review them) please feel free to post reminders there.

I would like to underline that if you want to, you can post items you ticketed here as well, but please, to speed up things… ticket them.

Thank you!

With the recent releases of two amazing new products several people are rightly asking about compatibility between that software and Project Magenta.

In the past add-ons with their own flight management and aircrafts simulations (which go well beyond the capabilities of FS) could easily be used with third party software by removing or replacing the panels, as those were the ones used for the additional features. This way cockpit builders were able to use the parts they wanted, i.e. the flight model and the outside view of their aircraft within FS, and the rest of the Project Magenta Software in their networked computers with their dedicated hardware. Typically these add-ons are used in a normal one-computer setuo.

Due to new copyright protection systems included in the fresh generations of some products, the flight model and 3D model of the aircraft is now interlinked with the rest of the add-on, which makes it difficult, if not illegal, to “break out” these parts from the rest of their product.

As Project Magenta we can’t make any efforts to break this protection, and we will have to see what alternative solutions can be offered by ourselves or others. Please check our forum for a more in-depth discussion about this.

iFly http://www.iflysimsoft.com/
PMDG http://www.precisionmanuals.com/

www.vatsimn.net

Dear VATSIM,

Has it really been ten years? Hundreds of thousands of hours provided by volunteer air traffic controllers servicing pilots, adding a new dimension to the potential of PC based flight simulation? This is an amazing achievement and a great act of dedication, organization and evolution that has taken place for the benefit of everyone involved. Congratulations!

Being one of those who dreamt of these possibilities and tried to do something like this from the very early days, I feel very close to this community and its members. It is time to celebrate, and my understanding is that there is a long list of events that will keep the level of enthusiasm high, publicize VATSIM to those who do not know about it and make those who strayed come back for more!

Many thanks to all of you, it is hard work and fun, or fun and hard work, but what an impressive result and very well worth it! So blow out the candles and make a wish, keep going strong and we’ll all get to a hundred!

Best Regards

 Enrico Schiratti
Project Magenta

Please check the Forum for more details.

Project Magenta has been developing flight simulation avionics and systems for more than ten years and OpenGL is a core quality and selling point. Several thousand of installations with Project Magenta are being used by flight training professionals, the aviation industry as well as hobby cockpit builders.

The following products use OpenGL:

• all Glass Cockpit Software
• Flight Management Computer screens
• pmSystems
• Instructor Station
• General Aviation avionics

Having become the industry’s foundation in our own sector heavily relies heavily on using the industry’s foundation of high performance graphics.

This process will make the network a little less secure but it works well because a password isn’t used and everyone is allowed access.

1. First, know what the Computer name is and what Workgroup it belongs to.

The Workgroup name needs to be the same on all PC’s that are being networked; no matter the OS on each system. This is already setup, even if only by default, in the setup process while installing each OS.

Verify what the Windows 7 computer and workgroup names are by going to Control Panel > System and Security > System > and read information under “Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings” (The third category down).

If the names need to be changed go to Change settings in that category or Advanced System Settings in left pane. Then, Computer Name Tab > Change, type the Computer Name and Workgroup Name. > OK. Make the computer name meaningful to aid recognition. The computer should restart.

2. Second, adjust Win7 settings to allow for sharing with older OS on other networked systems.

Now go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change Advanced Sharing Settings (side panel). Make sure Network Discovery, File and Printer Sharing, and Public Folder Sharing are all set to “on” and Password Protected Sharing is set to “off”.

Note: I recommend leaving Media sharing set to “on” and under Windows HomeGroup connections select “Allow Windows HomeGroup to manage homegroup connections (recommended)”.

3. Third, choose which folders to share on the network and adjust properties to do so.

To share a specific Windows 7 folder or additional drives on the system, right-click it > Properties > Sharing Tab > Advanced Sharing > tick box for Share this folder > Apply > OK > Close. You only need to share the highest level folder, not every sub-folder. Two little people should appear on the icons of the folders that are shared.

4. Now, you MUST follow this step or the folders will not be shared despite previous steps followed!!!

Because Password Protected Sharing turned off, the security permissions have to be changed on the folder(s) to allow Everyone access. Right-click the shared folder > Properties > Security Tab > Edit > Add and type “Everyone” (not the quotes) into the box and select OK. Tick the boxes next to the permissions you want to allow (e.g. Read or Write, etc.) then Apply > OK. Some messages may appear: “An error occurred while applying…” This is not unusual and can be ignored by clicking Continue.

5. Windows firewall is normally set to allow file and printer sharing but if you have a third-party firewall make sure file and printer sharing are enabled so that each machine can talk to the other(s). Do not disable the Windows firewall if it’s the only one running.

Now you can run pmFileCheck and verify whether these folders are visible to all programs (at least FS, WideFS and the FMC must be running for this test)

(adapted from this post )

This is with pmSystems running and throttle hardware connected.

It took me some time to realize that this was due to the definition of the FS cutoff switches vs. the pmSystems cutoff switches.

As a premise, FS uses these offsets to set the fuel cutoff valve

0890 2 fsCutoff1 //word 0 – 16383
0928 2 fsCutoff2 //word 0 – 16383

This will start the engines (if the starter is activated) no matter what, especially in FS2004. It does not reflect any bleed pressure and other conditions.

When you use pmSystems, it is this program which sets those variables (or offsets if you wish) and it makes things conditional. So you would need to use the following bits to set the switches:

561A .0 Cutoff1 //(aka cutoffL in the 737)
561A .1 Cutoff2 //(aka cutoffR in the 737)

In the pseudocode (simplifying pmSystems) it looks like this:

if Cutoff1
     if all_conditions_are_met
          fsCutoff1 = 16383
     else
          fsCutoff1 = 0
     endif
endif

Thus, your throttle hardware should have the option (in the driver) to write to another offset than the default FS (e.g. fsCutoff1) offset, otherwise there will be a conflict between what pmSystems thinks the position of the fuel cutoff switch is and what the throttle hardware position is.

So *without* pmSystems your hardware has to write to the fsCutoff1 offset.

With pmSystems running, it has to write to Cutoff1, and then pmSystems writes to fsCutoff1.

Thomas Richter pointed out that in addition to this you can also set the following option in pmSystems:

Press [Esc] for the Menu, select User Options and check “Cutoff Lever has a Pot and NOT a switch”

Then pmSystems doesn’t take control of fsCutoff but still displays the switches and the FUEL/SPAR VALVES correctly depending on fsCutoff value.

This logic is in the Cutoff section of the B737 file, it starts with “if Poti = 0… if cutoffl”

• new upload of betas for all Airbus-Type programs with several changes
• Instructor Station re-compile with several optimizations
• the new builds overview page has been re-done to make things a bit more clear
• lot of work went into the ticket system to organize things better
• the forum has been re-worked a bit to make it as simple and clear as possible

Disclaimer: We do not reccomend you do this, but if your network is in a controlled environment, and you know who can access it and how (or can’t) then there is no reason for you not to disable the Windows 7 UAC.

To do this, simply click on Start, then enter ‘UAC’ in the “Search Programs and Files” Box.

The first (and possibly only) entry is ‘Change User Account Control Settings’.

The slider in on the left of the screen goes from “Always Notify” to “Never Notify”. The setting we suggest to use is “Never Notify”.

The statement that “need to use programs… do not support User Account Control” is a bit misleading, as even fully certified programs need to be run as administrator on occasions. We are simply doing away with a hurdle which might not be needed in a simulator environment.

As we have had reports of Windows Drivers and even FSUIPC/WideFS or Prepar3D installations malfunctioning, and this is a valid workaround.

Comments welcome.