AviTab alternatives?

Hi,

I’m very used to having my flight plan and charts inside the game, especially since I’m simming in VR exclusively (on XP11 mainly).

Is there an avitab (xp11) alternative in MSFS that would allow me to bring the flight plan PDF and the Navigraph charts in-game?
The current navigraph integration is pretty bad and not so easy to use, as I have to load the flight into navigraph prior to opening it in order to “pin” relevant charts to the in-game panel.
And I am unaware of a way to view my flight plan and load sheet etc in-game (the PDF spat out by simbrief)

Having these two things in-game would highly improve my experience flying the Heavy Division 787 and PMDG 737 in VR…

TIA

Depending on your VR platform (Oculus, WMR etc) you can bring in a desktop or app into VR and do it like that, but it’s often awkward, especially on a single monitor. I personally use that to bring in Volanta and view my load sheets via that in VR in preflight.

For paid apps that do this sort of thing there is:

https://fskneeboard.com/

and

Both have had topics in this forum I think, so worth a search for those before buying.

I quite like the Navigraph VR implementation. You can pin charts in VR, but do use the bottom right +/- to increase the UI size if you don’t spot it. Agree it would be nice if it could show the simbrief sheet as well, as all in one place would be ideal. A lot of individual aircraft EFB’s do bring it in, and I think PMDG plan to do that eventually too.

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Is there a VR pad that you can put inside, the excellent Navigraph toolbar app and place it fixed like an EFB?

Flightsimulator.me provides an excellent suite of VR panels including a PDF Viewer (2 simultaneous actually)

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There are paid versions of the GTN750 that have charts. Many of the 3rd party aircraft support the GTN750. If it doesn’t you can load it in a popout window.

I hear VR is much better in XP11.

Not really, or rather it’s complicated. XP11 has worse framerates with worse graphics than MSFS VR but one thing it did do well on a couple of aircraft was the handheld controllers. I just use physical equipment and the mouse in VR, but I can see why some like it that don’t own a joystick or prefer to wave their arms around in VR. WMR and OpenXR have been very good with MSFS so far.

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Most people say the clarity is much better. But I haven’t tried. It may be a case of the grass being greener?

I find the clarity better in MSFS than XP11 on WMR, but for a lot of high up tube IFR flying I do in XP11 it’s fine, as looking out the window is considered ‘casual’. :wink: On an Index they are pretty similar, although it depends on how dressed up XP11 is (ortho, clouds etc).

They both are pretty good though, and excited by XP12 to see what it can do. The PMDG 737 is nicer in VR for me on MSFS than even the Zibo on XP11, but it’s all personal preferences when it comes to VR I think.

I can highly recommend the G-Sim Kneeboard, especially for vr.
https://gsimulations.com/

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I use it as well, works great.

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Some planes have excellent support for Navigraph.
The freeware CJ4 is brilliant. It’s the most convenient interface I’ve come across.
So does the freeware FlyByWire a32x.
The GTN 750 is also usable in many planes.

I love fly in Xplane 11 because is so much smoother and the clarity is better, in fact, I really love taxiing in xplane airports at night. But the scenery in mfs2020 is night and day compared with the Xplane default scenery.

About the topic, I use Virtual desktop, and works great with Oculus CV1.

I use the Navigraph charts integartion in VR, and when I pull it up, it sees I have a flightplan loaded in FS2020 and gives me the option to “Load Flightplan” and then it has all pre-loaded and I can easily just click on whatever I want from there. Not sure why you’re saying you have to load it before you open it, unless you’re talking about something different.

I loved having AviTab in Xplane in VR.

With Oculus, you can do something similar like this:
Before going into VR, I start a browser window with whatever tabs I want (I like having SkyVector and Google Maps)
Once in my plane, I tap the right menu button on the Touch controller to bring up the Oculus screen.
Scroll to the far right of the Dash to find a plus sign (usually hidden until you scroll it). Click that.
That allows you to choose the browser window which will appear in front of you. Grab it and use the thumbstick to bring it close to you and resize it. Place it where you want it (I put it on the passenger seat). Click the thumbtack icon to pin it.
Press the Oculus menu button again to exit the Oculus screen but the browser window should still be there (if you pinned it correctly)
To be able to navigate the browser window, I have a mouse next to me with a button programmed to Alt-Tab which I can use to activate that window (otherwise the mouse cursor doesn’t work on it).
Other than the mouse for the SkyVector window, I fly completely using VR controllers (well except for my CH pedals).

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