vrinsight & PMDG

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.
1. setup is a nightmare, the manual is incorrect. and they want you to destroy your key command regime in favour of theirs. i'm not exactly dumb, but it took me two days to get this running !
2. input encoders are terribly 'twitchy' and unpredictable at times.
3. once LNAV is engaged, a heading cannot be set (how dumb is that). all the display gives me is a two digit readout preceeded by an = sign and the heading encoder is rendered useless.
4. cdu can only be used for page selection or alpha/numeric inputs (not both) unless you have your mouse in the other hand to switch the KBD flag on and off.
i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

[CoNa]

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.
1. setup is a nightmare, the manual is incorrect. and they want you to destroy your key command regime in favour of theirs. i'm not exactly dumb, but it took me two days to get this running !
2. input encoders are terribly 'twitchy' and unpredictable at times.
3. once LNAV is engaged, a heading cannot be set (how dumb is that). all the display gives me is a two digit readout preceeded by an = sign and the heading encoder is rendered useless.
4. cdu can only be used for page selection or alpha/numeric inputs (not both) unless you have your mouse in the other hand to switch the KBD flag on and off.
i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

At least you have recieved yours...!!
I waited 2 months for the release of the CDU..and then 2 weeks ago finally got informed that it was shipped..but still it has not arrived.:mad:

It does not sound as it's working as good as I was hoping.
I would appreciate it if you would share the setup of the CDU.
I'm still hoping that it will arrive this week.

Will try to write an review of it...or perhaps a warning.

[Padraig]

Hi Ian,

Just wondering, whats that CDU like, I seen the pictures of it a while ago from some thread, but it did not look pleasing, as I think that there is a really small screen "dot Matrix style" or something like that. Could you be so kind and verify this for me?

regards




hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.
1. setup is a nightmare, the manual is incorrect. and they want you to destroy your key command regime in favour of theirs. i'm not exactly dumb, but it took me two days to get this running !
2. input encoders are terribly 'twitchy' and unpredictable at times.
3. once LNAV is engaged, a heading cannot be set (how dumb is that). all the display gives me is a two digit readout preceeded by an = sign and the heading encoder is rendered useless.
4. cdu can only be used for page selection or alpha/numeric inputs (not both) unless you have your mouse in the other hand to switch the KBD flag on and off.
i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

i'll pm you with my findings....
rgds .... ian

[Padraig]

i'll pm you with my findings....
rgds .... ian


Sound man, thanks Ian :D

[CoNa]

Finally recieved my CDU....and immediately started to think om some mods that can be done :oops::roll:. First of all, get if off that stand..it's too wobbly.
Next....having a laser cut plate to cover the PCB and make a snug fit for the buttons. Would be looking much better than default.

Hope I will be able to test it this evening to see how it performs.
Any news on the numeric/alphabetic issue?

[Sylle]

hello chums.......
i managed to get hold of the VRInsight MCPCombo and the CDU for use on my test rig, but i am having a nightmare!
so i was wondering if anybody else has bought these for use with the PMDG aircraft (737ng in paticular) and was having the same issues as me.....or any other issues.

[...]

i've tried these units on two different computers just to eliminate me and my test rig machine. same result on both machines (phew!)
would be interested in anybody else's experiences with these units and the PMDG.
on a good note, the efis and radio sections work fine. i'm also told they work 100% with the LevelD767 (because they released the SDK).
have posted on the vrinsight forum but no reply as yet.
regards from the welsh borders..... ian

Hi guys,

I'm interested in buying an MCP combo from VRinsight as well as I'm looking for something affordable that I can use with my wide variety of addons. I don't want to confine myself to a single aircraft type.

Unfortunately, It seems Ian encounters a lot of problems with the PMDG birds.
As he mentions in his post above, this is probably a consequence of the lack of SDK and the use of the keymapping method to feed the MCP commands to the sim.

I remembered a few days ago that Lefteris (former PMDG programmer) now has another company called Flightsim Labs Ltd. that offers interface software between the PMDG products and different hardware brands. This interface allows for direct communication between the addon and your hardware which would solve a lot of trouble...

I created a topic on the Flightsim Labs forum to see if we can generate some interest in an interface between the PMDG 737/747 and the VRinsight hardware.

Please show your interest in this topic: http://www.flightsimlabs.com/Forums/tabid/62/forumid/1/postid/576/view/topic/Default.aspx

Best regards,
Sylvain

[namron2]

I ordered my CDU from PC Aviator on MOnday and it arrive next day, all the way from Myrtle Beach to British Columbia !!!

Anyway my main purpose was to use this with LevelD 767.

Installation was confusing but I finally got it to work.

My initial impressions:

When I first saw the price $299.00 I was impressed as this seemed a great deal? However, unless I am using it incorrectly, I found out that this is just a type of keyboard input to the on screen CDU?

In other words the onboard display only serves to show you which mode you are in, Radio stack or CDU?

I was hoping that the onboard display might show the data also?? I did realise that the 2 line display would have a lot of constraints in showing data
but, I was hoping anyway!

If, indeed, that is what is is, and I am using it correctly, I am a bit disappointed!

Having said that, from my limited experience at making other FS switch panels, I am still glad I bought it and consider still to be a very good unit for the price.

It seems well built and there is no way that I could even buy the components (let alone build this) for the price of the unit.

Any help or comments appreciated

Norm

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

gentlemen, good day.......
ok, we are getting somewhere. i have a test rig in my den which i use to experiment on, hence the vrinsight units.........when i first got these units, i had a nightmare getting the MCP part of the combo 'sort of' working (and i mean a nightmare). i posted several items on the vrinsight forum detailing my issues.
now there is a new version of the SerialFP2 software available which has addressed all the issues. installing the latest version of the the software has cured all the problems i was encountering when using the MCP Combo with the PMDG737. all three sections -EFIS - MCP and Radio are woking fine.....so i guess it pays to 'bitch'.
however, as far as the CDU is concerned, i am still not impressed. it's just a keyboard emulator and i find it easier to use the mouse to input alphanumeric characters which sort of defeats the purpose of having one really. never mind, it looks better than it works :o))
so, if you buy one of these units, forget the installation software on the disc, download the latest version of the SerialFP2 software from the vrinsight website.

norm said " Installation was confusing but I finally got it to work." thanks norm for being diplomatic.

have a great new year everybody....... ian

[slip-stream]

Ian, this is fantastic news, thanks for posting. My order is in.

Can you confirm that the driver SerialFP2 is v2.520 feb 2009?

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

hello there slip-stream.....
the driver i got was back in december '08 and was a release candidate. however it worked real well and release candidate or not, i didn't care because it was doing what i wanted.
so it is logical to assume that the latest driver will be a final version of that. just a tip though......vrinsight want you to replace your PMDG 737kbd.ini file with the one they ship. if you have anything sending keys into the PMDG, DONT DO IT because it messes everything up. better to spend an hour or so, changing the keys (in the vrinsight key mapper utility) to suit your existing assignments.
good luck anyway....
cheers ... ian

[slip-stream]

Thankyou for that tip. I was going to copy the .ini file as instructed in the manual. I will use your method. Could you just confirm the initial setup as the manual confused me slightly.

Plug in unit initially, check LCD screens. Remove Unit, Install driver(s), re-plug in unit?

[Michael Carter]

Some of these sim part manufacturers could really use a technical writer.

It might be great equipment, but if they can't clearly explain how to use it or install it, it detracts from the overall experience.

[slip-stream]

Ian, I ignored your advice sorry and went ahead and placed the kbd.ini file into the pmdg root folder as per the manual, (I could not find the original .ini file). Then I started fsx and loaded the pmdg 747. The mouse pointer flicked between hourglass status and pointer continously, something I have never seen before. I ran the serialfp2 driver anyway and, lo and behold, the mcp did not work. I removed and re-installed my pmdg 747.

I have since purchased level d 767 and it works a treat. However, I love the pmdg 747 and really want it to work.

I am a little confused with the 'broken English' manual. When you ran the keymapper utility did you Open an existing pre-defined key file or did you create a complete new one?

And the last bit confuses me in terms of having to add entries into the FMER.ini file. I just cannot understand what I am meant to do.

Please, please could you answer my 2 main questions and any other tips for the whole procedure very briefly, and perhaps paste the correct entries for the FMER.ini here for me.

Thanks Ian. (Or anyone else who has the foggiest idea)

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

First I have to agree with Micheal, manuals have to be written better.

for slipstream:
" Ian, I ignored your advice sorry and went ahead and placed the kbd.ini file into the pmdg root folder as per the manual, (I could not find the original .ini file). Then I started fsx and loaded the pmdg 747. The mouse pointer flicked between hourglass status and pointer continously, something I have never seen before. I ran the serialfp2 driver anyway and, lo and behold, the mcp did not work. I removed and re-installed my pmdg 747. "

oops, using the Key-Mapper is much safer.

" When you ran the keymapper utility did you Open an existing pre-defined key file or did you create a complete new one? "

first of all, you need to print off a list of your assigned keys in the PMDG. then install hardware/software. when you install the SerialFP2 software, it will automatically install 1. the keymapper utility and 2. a bundle of 'stock' keymaps which are identifyable by their name (e.g. PMDG 747, PMDG 737, MSFS737_400 etc or something like that).
open the file you want to change in the keymapper and change VRInsights assignments to your own, that is from your print list.
start Flightsim and your 747, start SerialFP2 (which will find the 'FMER' panel, select the file you want loaded from the dropdown menu, load it and way to go.
if all has gone to plan, you will have a functioning EFIS and MCP.
dont worry about the radio section, it uses standard FS variable so you dont need to pay that any attention.
hope that helped you out. good luck and have a great weekend...... ian

[slip-stream]

Thanks for that Ian, appreciated. Did you have to edit your particular FMER panel? Thats the bit that I don't understand in the manual.

[slip-stream]

Ian, I did everything you stated but still no joy. Gutted. Could this be programmed via fsuipc 4?

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

hi slipstream......
1. you have installed the SerialFP2.
when you run serialfp2, can you select the file you just edited and does the MCP come to life?
2. if so, does it display default values, the same as the software MCP?

just want to check the connection/communication before going on.

just for your information, you cannot use fsuipc because it will not see and recognise the buttons/encoders on the MCP because it's not a joystick.

good luck .... ian

[slip-stream]

Hi Ian. Yes I am able to select the file that I edited. I start fs, select pmdg, start serialfp2, select my edited file.

An observation that I noticed is that there are no keyboard commands in the pmdg menu, they are all blank. Should this be so?

Perhaps you could paste your FMER and edited dat file here and try yours?

Thanks so far Ian.

[ian@737ng.co.uk]

i dont understand, your key assignments can't be blank, you printed them off to edit your keymap file. you didn't move or delete the file by accident did you?
the PMDG MCP/EFIS are controlled by keystrokes and what the VRInsight MCP/EFIS does is
send in single or repeated keystrokes to increase/decrease values in the software.
if there are no assignments in your PMDG key menu, then the keys that your VRInsight unit sends will not be actioned because the keys its sending are not assigned.
ok, email me at ian@737ng.co.uk and when i get home, i'll send you my 737kbd.ini file and my serialfp2 dat (keymap file).
let's see if we can sort this out.
talk to you later.... ian

[slip-stream]

Hi Ian, I realised (soon afterwards) that if the kbd assignments were missing in the PMDG menu then it would not recognise any inputs so, through desperation, I copied the attached .ini kbd file into the PMDG folder again, in order to enter the assignments into PMDG.

I did, however, copy the PMDG folder as a backup, as it was a gamble, I know. However, this time it worked and as far as I know all inputs are working fine. I have not checked all inputs yet though as I have'nt had time to program the FMC.

I need to check the LNAV / no heading selection quirk though. I hope I do not have that problem. As far as I know you no longer have that quirk now? I will check back in the next 24 hours, hopefully, with good news that all inputs are correct.

Thankyou so much for your help so far Ian. Appreciated.