As a long time user of Parallel 42 products it’s great to see this addon for MSFS. I picked up Essentials yesterday and am on the learning curve just now.
This isn’t a criticism, but an observation, and it may just be me, but I find that part of the learning curve is picking up how the app wants you to work with it (which is fine, and sorry but I am an overthinker, sometimes that’s bad, other times that’s good)
A couple of immediate points I’d appreciate pointers on in case I am missing the obvious…
-Cameras. Is it possible to map aircraft specific VC custom cams (i.e. created using ALT CTRL numeric) to the camera list?
-The wheel/segments. Can segments be added, even if that force changes wheel size, or is the alternate method to add subfolders?
-Ground services/doors e.g. stairs. Now I expect a lot of variables can come in here, I mostly fly PMDG, and of course that allows for control of these via the FMC. But can these be mapped to the wheel or is that functionality constrained to default aircraft? I’d add I’ve also picked up PushBack Express but can’t get either to manage those functions. If it’s a 3rd party limitation or I’m missing some intermediate step, that’s cool, but just knowing what I can/cannot do would be great.
Right now, it’s feeling like a very useful, neat addon, and I’m really looking forward to making the most of it, and hope I won’t be missing that handlebar popping up every time I stray to the upper screen, which doesn’t help immersion, even when using the well known No Handlebar addon!
Thanks in advance for any pointers, which I’m sure others will appreciate too
I think everything that can theoretically be controlled by an external input can theoretically be scripted to a Flow button. (i.e. if there’s a keystroke or LVAR or something else that will let you do it, it can be done). But don’t quote me on that. The scripting ability is right now beyond my abilities.
I think you might want to consider upgrading to Pro to get the scripting ability, tbh. Seems like it would serve your needs better.
Many thanks, I hadn’t considered checking Flightsim.to for scripts. I was kinda hoping I’d missed some aspect of usage, but had suspected there may be some limitation with PMDG having also tried the default A320 where some door functionality is more apparent. Like yourself I’ve never got into this type of scripting, but will take a look to see if I can better grasp it, although I recognise this download is a drag and drop solution by the looks of it.
Folders is the only way I believe. Segments quantity is set in stone.
Good question about custom camera views. Not sure if you can add more “buttons” in the official camera window though there probably is a way (it’s just code after all so if you had Pro you could copy their widget and hack it about) but you’d be able to make your own folder and add custom shortcuts in there? You need Pro for all of that though (and to use those from fs.to).
About cameras: We can’t create control assignments in the sim unfortunately. The day we have that and a proper camera API, we will build a full camera system with a link to Flow.
About wheel segments: Not possible to add segments to the wheel. After a lot of testing we thought it best to have a fixed number with the ability to have multiple pages.
About Ground services/Doors: Flow can’t do magic unfortunately. If a developer codes something outside of the expected SDK behavior, it will need to be custom-coded like the scripts DaveR44 linked to. We expect the community to keep providing scripts and making everything compatible with Flow. To note, Flow Pro is required to load outside scripts. Upgrade pricing is available on Orbx.
Sadly, i don’t imagine that feature “getting along” with Xbox very well. Not a dig at //42, Xbox just needs to work with Asobo on optimization for the console version of the Sim.
Good point. I haven’t got an XBox yet, but thinking about getting one very soon.
Does Flow work with gamepad on it, or does it need a KBM?
ref:
What is the list of recommended peripherals that will work for the Xbox version?
• Microsoft Flight Simulator fully supports Xbox gamepad, keyboard and mouse, Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas One, Thrustmaster T.Flight Rudder, and HORI HOTAS Flight Stick for Xbox One. New, Xbox-compatible peripherals will be announced soon, but we cannot share any further details at this time.
From https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402318233874-Microsoft-Flight-Simulator-Xbox-FAQ
How did you go about testing on it, what are the limits for this type of app on XBox vs PC?
Pro version is nixed because you can’t compile on XBox? Security or some other constraint?
Thanks for the reply Keven.
Yeah I kinda assumed there was some Camera limitation currently beyond your control, but wanted to be sure I hadn’t missed something in usage as I familiarise with Flow.
As for segments it seems I was already grasping the approach you’ve used, rather than creating a massive wheel, so the described approach is a sensible way to address that.
Once again, I was considering that 3rd party limitations on GS/doors may be a factor, and indeed my own testing with a default aircraft suggested that was the case, but thanks for confirming. I’ve not tried the suggested script yet (though grateful for the pointer, and as ever I guess the Flightsim.to community may become quite productive in this area) I did ponder going for Pro, but swayed to Essentials thinking I wouldn’t need scripts, doh! So I may have to think about moving up a notch perhaps.
On a general note, as expected I’ve found once you’ve had a play with the product it does start to click into place. It also allows for ergonomic flexibility, so for example I have a button mapped on my throttle to launch the Wheel, and my other hand will already be on the mouse to select actions. Definitely a ton better than the default Toolbar.
Why do I get all the flow mess on the top right every time I start the sim? I need to go into toolbar and disable/enable flow each time. Annoying but must be avoidable.
I’d rather not see any reference to flow unless I hit the tab key.
What’s that exclamation mark? You have an update available perhaps and that’s notifying you. It fades off automatically after a couple of seconds usually.
That’s not the right behaviour. Try deleting it, start MSFS without it, then quit and reinstall it. That exclamation mark must mean something. Maybe you have a “broken” widget or something. Have you used any imported scripts?
Same behavior. Nothing imported. Only one of the cogs is an actual button. The other is some kind of notification. Yet, the only way to get rid of it is with toolbar control off/on. Clicking the flo cog that is a button brings up the settings VERY slowly–almost 20 seconds after clicking it.
