Help please! FSX Controls -What do they actually mean?

[J G 927]

I have a list of FSX controls that is supplied with FSUIPC.  Its called 'List of FSX Controls.pdf'

 

It is great for what it is, but......

 

What do these controls exactly do?

 

For example, I am interested in adding buttons to a home made control unit that will allow me to realistically start up and shut down a four engine jet. 

 

I am looking at the processes i will need to start up an engine. What will I need?

 

Fuel on. fuel pumps on, jet starter or something like that.

 

Fuel on.....

So I see:-

 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_ALL 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_CENTER 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_LEFT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_LEFT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_LEFT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_OFF 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_RIGHT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_RIGHT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_RIGHT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_SET 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_ALL 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_CENTER 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_LEFT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_LEFT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_LEFT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_OFF 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_RIGHT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_RIGHT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_RIGHT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_SET 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_ALL 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_CENTER 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_LEFT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_LEFT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_LEFT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_OFF 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_RIGHT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_RIGHT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_RIGHT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_4_SET 

FUEL_SELECTOR_ALL 

FUEL_SELECTOR_CENTER 

FUEL_SELECTOR_LEFT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_LEFT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_LEFT_MAIN

FUEL_SELECTOR_OFF 

FUEL_SELECTOR_RIGHT 

FUEL_SELECTOR_RIGHT_AUX 

FUEL_SELECTOR_RIGHT_MAIN 

FUEL_SELECTOR_SET

 

and

 

TOGGLE_FUEL_VALVE_ENG1 

TOGGLE_FUEL_VALVE_ENG2 

TOGGLE_FUEL_VALVE_ENG3 

TOGGLE_FUEL_VALVE_ENG4

 

So what do i use?

 

At a basic level I can use the toggles. but that just switched the fuel off to on. I doesn't tell me from the switch position if the fuel is on or off.

 

So can I use any of the Fuel Selector switches?

 

The short answer is I just don't know with out having to first try and somehow to find out what they all mean. And no it isn't that obvious to me what they all do. Let me jive you a couple of examples:-

 

What is the difference between

 

FUEL_SELECTOR_2_ALL 

 

and 

 

FUEL_SELECTOR_3_ALL

 

Could it be the engine? No it is not! It must refer to the individual fuel selector of an aircraft and allow for up to 4 selectors.

 

So it seems there is no useful general purpose fuel on and not and fuel off for each engine.  I either have to settle for a push button that gives me no status clue for the thing I am operating or model the whole system and include often redundant functions.

 

.... That is if my reading of the Fuel system commands is correct.

 

As for the other two stages of my start-up procedures, well they are equally unhelpful.

 

Is there no information out there that says 'The command XX_XX_XX exists and the default action is YYYYYYY' ?

 

I am attempting to fathom this out in the design of a button and switch panel, using trial and error to pin down the true meaning of each commend, but because I dont know if the command is used, or correctly interpreted by the model I am using, this process is becoming too long unreliable to make it worth while.

 

any help shedding light on this would be mush appreciated!

 

J

 

 

 

 

 

[jaydor 345]

Try a respectful PM to Bruce AKA Brian 777.  If he does not know then not even Fewzzy does.. 

[J G 927]

Thanks James

 

[mutley 4,497]

Have a look at Bruce's LINDA review, that's what you need by the sounds of it? 

 

http://www.mutleyshangar.com/reviews/bc/linda/linda.htm

[Quickmarch 488]

I think, from your description, that you may be trying to oversimplify the process. Complex aircraft have complex fuel systems where each engine is fed from it's own tank. This requires a switch for each engine. Add to that the need to cross-connect tanks to guard against problems and these switches become rotary selectors with multiple positions, all interconnected.

I believe the simulation designers try really hard to include the fuel selection logic in their models. You are likely to have to duplicate that logic with an analog panel array of linked rotary switches.

I doubt it will be easy to short-circuit the simulation and, say, supply a single switch for each engine fuel feed with a simple off/on configuration. If you do work out how to do this, then the question of whether or not the fuel is selected is answered by the switch position. In N America, the convention is to select up for on and down for off. This, naturally, is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere where everything is upside down anyway.

[J G 927]

Looks interesting thanks Joe

[Bruce (a.k.a. brian747) 142]

Hi John!

 

A very brief explanation, pending my reply to your second PM:

 

The list of "FSX Controls" is just that, a list of offsets which you can use to hook into the *fsx* controls. The trouble is, that the Majestic Dash-8 controls are quite different, as are those of the Aerosoft Airbus, the PMDG NGX, and so on. So LINDA incorporates a sophisticated tool you can use to try and trace these individual controls in your aircraft of choice, and the results can then be made available as aircraft-specific "modules"  so that LINDA can easily map hardware buttons to those controls. (The modules already available can be downloaded from here: http://forum.avsim.net/forum/427-linda-downloads/ ).

 

More information coming your way soon!   

 

Cheers,

 

Bruce

 

[J G 927]

Thanks for all your help Brian!