Some of the Event ID names aren’t clear so what I’d like to do is activate the button or switch in the game and find out what Event ID is tied to that button/switch. Is there a way to do this?
EDIT: For example, I am flying the Cessna Longitude and I press the FLC button on the autopilot, or the VS button. I would like to know what the Event ID for those buttons are. I am creating a profile for Air Manager and would need the Event ID or SimConnect name to do this. Thanks!
Thanks!
The default assignments are derived from the keyboard settings (about ~340) the other 800 non qualified can be found using options/controls /filter to all and pushing a free keyboard combination for a trial. Is that what you are looking for?
No, sorry. For example, I am flying the Cessna Longitude and I press the FLC button on the autopilot, or the VS button. I would like to know what the Event ID for those buttons are. I am creating a profile for Air Manager and would need the Event ID or SimConnect name to do this. Thanks!
Spad.Next has an integrated event monitor. You can install trial version and sniff the sim connect events.
Thanks! Are there no free event monitor programs available? I don’t have any of the Saitek instruments and one of the reasons for Air Manager was so that I didn’t have to buy any of the Saitek stuff.
Not that I am aware of, sorry. But, you don’t need any saitek panels to run Spad.Next. You don’t need any controllers at all, even though it also supports many other brands and generic joystick controllers like leo bodnar.
Just run the trial and start event monitor. Any sim events for switches you interact in game will be listed there if the switch has a defined sim connect command. You can then write down event names or IDs and use those in Air Manager.
Thanks, I’m trying the demo now. What happens after the initial 14 days? Is there a free version that’s available or do I have to pick between the basic editions or the complete edition? All I really need is the event monitor.
No, there is not a free version available. Basic additions are cheaper if you are not using multiple sims. For multiple sims, and stream deck support I think complete edition becomes more valuable.
Anyways, I think you can easily note down all available commands and variables in that trial period. I am sure it will be a long time before there are any revisions to that Sim Connect command and variable list. Hopefully, there will be other tools available by that time.
You can do the same thing with FSUIPC7 for free for now, until it leaves beta at which point it will require a paid licence again. I suspect it won’t leave beta for a few months yet though. Spad is definitely easier to use in this regard though, filtering out all the stuff flying through the logs that you don’t want is easy in Spad. Spad is very expensive if you go for the Complete Paid package, but it’s also very powerful at what it can do.
The only Saitek gear I have is a Trim Wheel and a couple of quadrants and you don’t need Spad for that, but I couldn’t be without it now, it’s worth it for the new (in beta) Elgato Stream Deck programming features alone.
FSUIPC can log Event IDs unfortunately I have found buttons from the cockpit not showing up, i wonder if they are using LVars instead of Event IDs or so…
Yeah the Lvars aren’t exposed to us yet, they will come eventually but I suspect it will be a long wait.
I wish they had overhauled the entire API. I understand it helps to onboard existing tools and addons but SimConnect in my opinion is an antiquated approach and actually sets the entry bar higher than needed for new developers.
Would the event monitor be available on the basic version?
Could you tell me how useful Spad would be for someone without any Saitek hardware? I don’t stream although I’ve seen an Elgato device, do you use it for streaming or just like a modifiable button box?
Could you tell me how useful Spad would be for someone without any Saitek hardware? I don’t stream although I’ve seen an Elgato device, do you use it for streaming or just like a modifiable button box?
I use it as a button box. Here is a screen shot of something I’ve been working on with Spad.neXt and my Stream Deck XL. It’s a very powerful tool(box), but like I said expensive. The trial version doesn’t support the beta versions so you would need to wait for it to leave beta before it is available in the trial version, or do like I did and pony up £70 for the Complete version and beta access.
Thanks for that but £200 for the Elgato plus £70 for Spad seems a bit much when I can already do this on my touchscreens with Air Manager, but it’s an interesting alternative! Aside from this, any other uses of Spad?
I recommend looking at the website or even the Discord server, there is just too much stuff to cover here and I am very new to it too, so I cant really do it justice. If you wait for the next update though you can try it out for yourself in the trial version. I don’t think it will be too much longer until its rolled into the release version.
The default software and vJoy is very good but you can do all of that and much more without having to install the buggy vJoy software which isn’t really supposed to work on Windows 10 and is no longer supported, it’s one of the reasons I switched to Spad, but primarily it was for the better Stream Deck integration. The Icons on the deck can be updated by the sim, its a two way communication, that can be really powerful and the possibilities are endless.
to be clear, some buttons like the FMS functions do not have working events currently. While they exist and you can find the event name, there’s no actual hook to do anything. Axis and Oh’s is about $10 and lists all the events that are available, working in the sim or not.
There are some buttons in the Longitude that respond to mouse clicks like the VNAV button but Spad isn’t showing any output. Then there’s the CLR/Direct/ENT/etc. buttons on the PFD control panel that don’t say INOP but don’t seem to do anything and again, Spad isn’t showing any output.
Yes, some switches do not have sim connect events defined. Those can not be monitored or controlled by Spad or any other external software. You can only interact with those using mouse.
However, it might be possible to achieve the function of some of those switches, by manipulating sim variables and series of commands. For example; if heading sync button does not work, you can write a script that read the heading data from GPS_TRUE_HEADING and write to AP_HEADING_SELECT variable. That essentially does the same thing.
Similarly you can use generic sim connect events for switches that are inop, or even for aircrafts that does not have corresponding systems. Window de-ice sim connect event for example, enables window heating independent from virtual cockpit switches or aircraft systems.
Also, it might worth to check the in game controller commands. Some of the switches that doesn’t have sim connect events, might have in game control bindings. For these, you can indeed make the controller binding in game. But if your panel or controller is not recognised by the sim, you can assign the event to a keyboard key and use an external interface that can send key presses.
