MSFS2020

775: Zenith CH701 STOL Gauges Released

| Tom Tsui

Thanks to Mikael in Sweden who sponsored me the SimWorks Studios (SWS) Zenith CH701 STOL, associated FIP instruments for the aircraft have just been released.

Mikael says, “I don’t fly these type of aircraft IRL but it is just something fun about this little bird for extreme bush flying.”  Couldn’t agree with him more even though this slow speed Ultralight isn’t my favorite.

The gauge set basically includes the Airspeed Indicator (with MPH and additional KNOTS versions) plus the seven (7) Engine Gauges grouped in two Clusters.
MSFS_CH701_Gauges_p01
For a complete CH701 FIP instrument line-up, Continue reading →

773: MSFS Multi-Monitor Setup

| Tom Tsui

One of the features I missed the most after moving to MSFS from P3d is the 3-monitor setup.  I believe many friends feel the same.

A friend, KaseLite, who told me in an earlier email saying that he is running MSFS on three PCs with Wideview and the result is very good.  But he admitted that the approach isn’t economical.  Besides the hardware cost, you need to buy the same flight simulator, aircrafts and addons for all machines.

Nevertheless, KaseLite says that the graphics are the best this way.  You can run all machines at maximum solution.

Here’s a demonstration video of his 3-monitor MSFS setup KaseLite took upon my request to share with other friends here.   Thank you.

Builder: KaseLite
Aircraft: N333ZS
Home Airport: KSBA, Santa Barbara Municipal Airport

Project Notes: Continue reading →

772: Where Do You Buy Addons From ?

| Tom Tsui

Saw an interesting discusion from an MSFS forum yesterday about where we should buy our addons from — the MSFS MarketPlace or the Developer’s website or their partnered webstores ?

Most people support the latter because in comparison the price is generally cheaper and the product release and update times are faster.

I agreed with them in general.  But the truth I found is: not all developers have good customer services and not all developers/webstores will prompt you for updates and bugs immedately.  And the most frustrated is this “missing link” sometimes leads to CTDs after MSFS updates.

There were many times I had to Google and trial and error to find out what addon(s) was (or were) the cause(s).  Spending hours to catch the bugs wasn’t uncommon in my experience.

A recent example Continue reading →

771: Scrolling FUN with DHC-6 Altimeter

| Tom Tsui

The hybrid-style altimeter which has analog needles and digit display are always my favorite.  While flying the Aerosoft DHC-6 lately, I noticed that the “thousand” and “10-thousand” digits on the altimeter are not simply linear scrolling according to height.  The numbers start to scroll up or down to the next value only from the last “50” and “500” at every hundred and thousand segment respectively.

I then thought it would be fun to add this little effect to the DHC-6 altimeter as such, although I tend to prefer the flipping style as it is more precise and easier to read. 


So here’s the updated DHC-6 altimeter.  The Clean Version with the new scrolling effect is on the left, and the Extended Version with the digit flipping on the right.  Continue reading →

768: MESHES = MESSES

| Tom Tsui

After the recent SU8 update, I encountered serious stutters and intermittent freezes within the Switzerland areas.  My immediately reaction was to rebuild the rolling cache as I had experienced similar situation once or twice before.

However, the rebuilding didn’t solve the issue this time.

After playing with various settings with no luck, I then tested the system with no addons.  Wala !  The stutters and short freezes were gone.

I didn’t think of doing it in the first place because the stutters were happening in the Switzerland areas only.

So now the cause was found but which addon(s) was/were the culprit(s)? Continue reading →

767: New Multi-Shared VOR2

| Tom Tsui

The VOR2 on the C152 and C172 used to be functioned and looked differently from each other and from the Multi-shared VOR1 as well when MSFS was launched.  However, the two VOR2s got different changes in the last two years and finally become identical to each other and look the same as the VOR1 after the recent 1.23.12.0 update.MSFS_MS_VOR2_R1C_resize

The VOR2 in the C152 and C172 FIP series are therefore united as one and moved to the Multi-Shared Gauges category just like the VOR1.

In other words, users can use the new MS VOR2 on both C152 and C172 now, and Continue reading →

766: G5 PFD AirSpeed Scale 220311 Update

| Tom Tsui

Due to the brightness of the Vref marks on the G5 PFD Airspeed Scale is a bit overwhelming that causes distraction from the rest of the instrument, the Vref marks have been dimmed a little to restore the balance of the instrument as a whole.

Apology for the short update period since the last one 3 days ago.  Anyway, download Links have been sent to all users already.

Continue reading →

765: GENERIC G5 PFD SR22 Update

| Tom Tsui

As there are quite some inquiries regarding the Cirrus SR22 airspeed scale for the GENERIC G5 PFD,  SR22it is therefore added as the third airspeed scale (C172, B58, SR22) coming as standard in the G5 PFD (both single- and dual-cue) R4 package now.

It can be called up by the “G5 Airspeed Switcher” utility after update.

With the SR22 3-Gauges Pack and the GENERIC G5 PFD+HSI, Continue reading →

761: The Wait for DHC-6 Gauges is Over

| Tom Tsui

The FIP Gauges for Aerosoft’s DHC-6 Twin Otter are done and released. MSFS_DHC6_BUNDLE
Will schedule to work on the Engine Cluster for the aircraft soon. Continue reading →