What specifically do you like better. Panel Builder is so old now I personally can’t see how anyone would find it better. Genuinely interested it what the reasons are.
Honestly, I don’t remember. When I started using MSFS over two years ago, and discovered several things had not been carried over from FSX, like on-screen instruments, I researched 3rd party options. I tried both Panel Builder and Air Manager. For some reason, that I don’t remember, I chose Panel Builder. It works fine, but is somewhat tedious/cumbersome to use (I don’t detect an impact on FPS), so I am getting by with the MSFS minimal HUD. The solution is for Asobo to complete the multi-window function so that you can choose the camera view. Then you could have a window zoomed in on the aircraft’s instrument panel. Perhaps this will be done in the 2024 version, but that’s at least a year away,
If 3rd party aircraft makers could at least recoup their losses in development time, in making Air Manager panels, for the very low Percentage of their customers that use Air manager, they probably would.
There are some thing in MSFS, that if you really want them, and they do not already exist, maybe learn to develop them yourself.
This is how the majority of addons get started, especially those that are Freeware.. Someone taking up the challenge, learning how to do it,and then sharing it with others.
Many of those with Air Manager, are a great example of those that do this, and help themselves and others.
If you want help, to do a new Air manager Panel for a plane that you particularly want an Air Manager panel for, the Air Manger User Group Discord is a great way to meet others that can help you get started.
In many ways, the experience in the “Air Manager” Community, is far better than most Plane Dev’s ability to make “Good” Air Manager compatible Instruments,
Here are some links that may help you get started -
Simstrumentations - Great Bunch of Guys –
- FLRob27
- Crunchmeister71
- Toddimus831
- CaptainTick433
- HPuukka
- BobbiCanada
I’m very familiar with the Simstrumentation project and many of the contributors, and I use many of their instruments. And I’m more than capable of making AM instruments; I write code for a living. What I don’t have is the time to spend to fill a gap which, quite honestly, should not have been a gap in the first place. Replicating the basic capabilities of FSX, including the camera system and multi-window capability, should have been a fundamental goal for MSFS all along IMHO.
There are many users of this sim building cockpit setups of various kinds who would never want to get into coding and will rely on others to build the instruments and panels that they need to make AM work for them. The Simstrumentation group and others do a great job, but they will never be able to cover all of the 1st and 3rd party aircraft in the sim. They scratch the itches that they want and need to, and we all get the benefit of that, but it shouldn’t be necessary. You can do with the P3D camera system and something like Chaseplane everything that Air Manager does (minus things like Knobster support), and you can do it for any aircraft. No coding required.
It’s not difficult to implement, it’s 100% possible for Asobo to do it in MSFS (and some of it would even work on Xbox) because they already have most of the basics - a pop-out capability for additional windows and a camera system that allows for presets - but unfortunately I believe it’s something they are never going to do. Which means MSFS will never be as good of a platform for cockpit builders as P3D and FSX are and were.
I’m frankly more pessimistic about this then I was when I started this topic. I see nothing in the small amount of 2024 news so far to give me any hope that this will be addressed, and I expect to see nothing in the final release when it comes.
Yes!! Why I still use P3D to fly airliners. Overhead panel on one screen above, pedestal on another to the right. Central screen for outside view and primary flight instruments. No need to pan around and make yourself airsick….
Unfortunately support for multiple windows is one of the many things Asobo did not carry forward from FSX (so why do they make “anniversary” claims?). Their attempt to rectify the situation in MSFS20 was poorly implemented. Hopefully MSFS24 will have fully functional and useful multiple window support
When I was a young electrical engineer/software developer at a small company, the founder used to frequently say that any new product we released to customers had to be at least as good as the old one it replaced or we weren’t shipping it. It’s quite surprising actually how often companies violate that dictum. It frankly wasn’t always easy for us to do either. It’s easy to forget, or lose track of, how much effort went into getting the prior product to where it is, and then you have to do all that and even better…
You also need to be able to move the eyepoint position and disconnect that view from the others so it doesn’t change when/if others do.
It’s not only home cockpit builders that want/need this functionality.
In order to make an even slightly capable system, one needs the core instruments on a separate screen. It’s the only way to make them big enough to be readable and it makes it so they are easier to interact with. Pop out screens are nice, but you can’t interact with them. I guess if you have a huge TV screen with high resolution you might be able to make the instruments big enough to read, but on standard computer monitors it’s a no-go.
I use Air Manager but neither have the time nor the inclination to design instruments. Thanks to those of you who do. I use some generic setups in Air Manager to do it now, but it’s not great since like the OP says, it’s not specific to the aircraft I’m flying.
It would be so much better to create a view of the panel that is detached from the main view camera. It needs to be fixed in position. The camera needs to have its own relative position, zoom, pitch and yaw. The way it is now where it’s fixed to the pilot’s viewpoint and it changes when you pan or zoom the main view is weird.
I have used Air Manager extensively, and honestly, it is not that hard to master
Ted
With Panel Builder you don’t have to build instruments nor know anything about programming. I understand it’s not as powerful for home cockpit builders, but it’s a good KISS solution for us hobbyists. The instruments can be put on a tablet in front of your main screen using SpaceDesk (free). So while you are flying you can glance down at your instruments of choice. The basic “control” instruments is all I need for controlling the plane’s attitude, speed, altitude change, turn coordination, trim, etc.
https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/multiple-screen-decouple-the-viewpoint-in-each-new-window-added/546150/31?u=rgp1942
But this is a “work around” for what needs to be built into MSFS – which can be done by having a cockpit view in a separate window with the ability to set the eye point, zoom in and out, pan vert/horiz, adjust brightness, and most importantly save the “instrument view” with the plane.