MSFS Hours & Hobbs Counter (for Windows)
Here is the link to the app on flightsim.to:
Just extract and run the installer.
Due to forum restrictions please discuss at my Discord here:
Cheers, P.
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The app will spit out a file like this, (btw my hours look a little odd due to losing my logbook a little while ago):
MSFS Hours Counter - Version 1.03 - by Phil Pendlebury
Discord: https://discord.gg/9y4RNtJDSv
hours:hinutes (by Hobbs, highest first) = aircraft name
hhhh:mm-------------------------------------------------------
0020:50 = sws kodiak gear
0010:23 = sws kodiak tundra
0009:48 = as aircraft dhc6 300 wheels pax
0006:53 = dcdesigns aircraft concorde
0006:40 = blackbox aircraft bn islander
0004:54 = flyingiron spitfire
0004:46 = pmdg dc 6a
0004:41 = milviz fg1d
0004:24 = flysimware cessna 414a
0004:10 = milviz pc6 tundra
0003:43 = jf pa28 warrior ii
0003:26 = pmdg dc 6b
0003:14 = bigradials aircraft goose
0003:08 = as aircraft dhc6 300 wheels cargo 3 blade
0002:48 = flyingiron p38l
0002:43 = wing42 boeing 247d
0002:36 = aerosoft crj 700
0002:31 = asobo a320 neo
0002:09 = ah p51d
0001:52 = asobo tbm930
0001:49 = asobo b747 8i
0001:46 = jf pa28 turboarrow iv
0001:38 = as aircraft dhc6 300 wheels cargo 4 blade
0001:37 = asobo kingair350
0001:08 = as aircraft dhc6 100 wheels pax
0001:03 = asobo b787 10
0001:02 = asobo bonanza g36
0000:60 = sws kodiak tundra cp
0000:58 = as aircraft dhc6 100 wheels cargo
0000:54 = asobo fa18e
0000:50 = sws kodiak gear cp
0000:50 = asobo c172sp as1000
0000:49 = aerosoft crj 1000
0000:45 = monster nxcub
0000:42 = carenado m20r ovation
0000:41 = milviz pc6
0000:40 = asobo da62
0000:36 = asobo cj4
0000:32 = asobo savage shockultra
0000:32 = as aircraft dhc6 300 wheels skydiver
0000:30 = flybywire a320 neo
0000:30 = as aircraft dhc6 300 tundra cargo
0000:29 = asobo nxcub
0000:27 = asobo longitude
0000:23 = asobo savage grravel
0000:22 = jf 146 300qt
0000:21 = asobo 208b grand caravan ex
0000:19 = as aircraft dhc6 300 tundra pax
0000:17 = microsoft junkers ju52 modern
0000:17 = asobo c172sp as1000 skis
0000:16 = as aircraft dhc6 300 ski cargo
0000:16 = aerosoft crj 550
0000:15 = salty b747 8i
0000:15 = ozx aircraft goose g21a
0000:15 = microsoft pilatus pc6 g950 wheels
0000:15 = jpl c152
0000:13 = c172tdi
0000:10 = jf pa28 turboarrow iii
0000:10 = asobo c152
0000:08 = as aircraft dhc6 300 amphibian pax
0000:07 = carenado pa28 arrow iii
0000:06 = microsoft pilatus pc6 gauge wheels
0000:06 = asobo da40 ng
0000:06 = asobo c172sp classic
0000:03 = fokkerdr1
0000:03 = asobo pitts s1 reno
0000:02 = microsoft volocity
0000:01 = jf pa28 arrow
0000:00 = asobo icon
0000:00 = aerosoft crj 900
--------------------------------------------------------------
Total (Hours:Minutes)
132:12
I had to add leading zeros to the hours in order to be able to sort them efficiently. There is an option in the ini file to choose between hours or hobbs.
Please feel free to suggest and chime in at my Discord.
The app should find your Airplanes data by itself but if it fails, you will get a notice. In that case please get in touch.
I am on Steam here and my location is:
STEAM:
C:\Users\ you \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\SimObjects\Airplanes
STORE:
C:\Users\ you \AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes
Just extract and run the exe file. The app should tell you how many planes it finds and then simply create the output file on your desktop.
@Baracus250 I am counting on you to get involved in this if you can. 
My Discord in case you want to chat there: Philās Discord
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This is cool to sea so soon. Will be fun if people start using this and sharing the output. Thank you for doing this.
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Nice job!!! I definitely will. Probably have some time tonight or over weekend to give some feedback on your points and anything else that comes to mind etc.
Thank you for your work so far - could be a nice parallel view to the Top 5 Favourites thread!
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Cheers guys, I think it will be useful once the points are addressed. I havenāt even had chance to check how the figures tally up with my actual usage yet. I am sure there will probably be some more math involved. But letās seeā¦
What actually is the difference between Hours and Hobbs in practice? Is Hours only counted when actually flying (wheels off ground) and Hobbs includes extra for any time engine is running? (Taxiing, waiting etc)?
Iāll try running the app on my PC tonight and see what occurs.
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Hobbs usually counts actual running engine time, often activated by a pressure switch connected to the oil system. But I am not sure how it works in MSFS tbh, although I did notice in my log file that there are some differences and some planes do not exist at all.
The app itself at the moment will give you a couple of messages after checking the location and then will take 5 seconds to run.
Canāt see any directory called this -
C:\Users\ User \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\SimObjects\Airplanes
All I see in
C:\Users\ User \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator
are flightplans and a directory called āpackagesā which just has two just flight planes in it. All my settings are default too.
When I hunt for Airplane in C:\ I get loads of directories listed, but I managed to track a path that lists all the aircraft to -
C:\Users\ myid \AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes
Which allows your app to run. I have a list! Thank you.
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@BragRaindrop933 this is great thank you. So we know we can add that location for store users. I will update shortly.
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Ah right steam v store. I get it now. Is there a way to filter say top stats for last 30 days? Iām assuming the stats are pulled over based on all time history.
Iām sitting at 105 hrs in the CRJ-900 !
This is a cool, fun and interesting app, it could take off. Thank you again.
My current top 10 -
Hrs & aircraft
0105.350052 = Aerosoft_CRJ_900
0029.974858 = JF_PA28_Warrior_II
0026.758102 = AS_Aircraft_DHC6-300_Wheels_Pax
0025.599894 = FlyByWire_A320_NEO
0007.876772 = JF_PA28_TurboArrow_III
0005.043201 = JF_PA28_TurboArrow_IV
0004.675752 = Aerosoft_CRJ_550
0004.24053 = hpg-airbus-h145
0004.232885 = Asobo_C152
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Yup. If we can just get a few more users to confirm that there are indeed only 2 path options that will save me a lot of messing around as I can just add a test for both.
That wonāt be possible, as this is reading the hours used of each plane or Hobbs which starts as soon as the plane starts. Unless of course we deliberately reset the file itself. (That could be added as an option later on for sure).
When we are done I will add a proper interface etc.
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UPDATE: Added check internally for:
C:\Users\ you \AppData\Roaming\Microsoft Flight Simulator\SimObjects\Airplanes
C:\Users\ you \AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\SimObjects\Airplanes
And if they both fail, it will then tell you to check the ini file and manually enter your path.
Download link will be updated always in first post.
2 Likes
I have run the app and my results below, but something isnāt right with this. Iām sure Iāve never had my log wiped. In my profile it still says 219 or so hours but these results seem like just the last week or 2 maxā¦
It isnāt all my aircraft and a lot are 0000?
0005.112312 = gotfriends-optica
0004.516337 = bigradials-aircraft-goose
0002.477993 = SWS_Vans_RV14A
0001.84561 = SWS_Vans_RV14
0001.764403 = Fouga_Magister
0001.74363 = p42_freedomfox
0001.70668 = gotfriends-gb-r3-special
0001.619174 = JF_PA28_TurboArrow_IV
0001.545206 = Milviz_PC6
0001.528614 = p42_fox2
0001.413303 = IndiaFoxtEcho_F35B
0001.391745 = blackbox-aircraft-BN-Islander
0001.289779 = Milviz_FG1D
0001.196959 = SWS_Kodiak_gear_CP
0001.180932 = DCDesigns_Stearman_Faired
0000.912744 = SWS_Kodiak_tundra
0000.828837 = bell 47
0000.705759 = PMDG DC-6A
0000.685977 = SWS_Kodiak_gear
0000.637038 = MSCarenado_D17_Staggerwing
0000.635982 = Asobo_103Solo_SmallWheels
0000.584964 = RV7A-gauges
0000.446036 = wing42-boeing-247d
0000.417461 = AS_Aircraft_DHC6-300_Wheels_Cargo_3-Blade
0000.415954 = Milviz_PC6_Tundra
0000.344379 = flyingiron_p38l
0000.333956 = Monster_NXCub
0000.281718 = SCDesigns_F16
0000.272217 = AS_Aircraft_DHC6-300_Tundra_Pax
0000.264283 = JW1
0000.256322 = bluemesh-aircraft-hydro-ultralight
0000.226505 = Asobo_Pitts_S1_Reno_TangoTango
0000.223535 = Asobo_Savage_Grravel
0000.211585 = Asobo_C172sp_AS1000
0000.20455 = bigradials-aircraft-n17
0000.203184 = JF_PA28_TurboArrow_III
0000.19755 = Asobo_C152
0000.191705 = blackbox-aircraft-SA-Bulldog
0000.189103 = Asobo_208B_GRAND_CARAVAN_EX
0000.166945 = SCDesigns_F16I
0000.164847 = Asobo_NXCub
0000.163179 = Microsoft_Dornier_DoJ_PlusUltra
0000.151639 = RV7
0000.135423 = Asobo_E330
0000.107422 = Microsoft_Dornier_DoJ_Cabina
0000.103042 = JF_Hawk_T1
0000.058885 = AH-Cessna-140-floats
0000.031168 = Aircreation582sl
0000.025381 = Asobo_Savage_Cub
0000.014739 = Asobo_L39_Reno_BlueIce
0000.002638 = gotfriends-discus2c
0000.0 = GotGravel_Vertigo
0000.0 = Asobo_DV20
Some initial thoughts:
- Way to automate the change on username directory in the ini file. Maybe I didnāt need to do that manually in this latest version? I did that first. (Funny I only had to change 2 letter as my username just has 2 letters different to yours lol).
EDIT: I see now I could have just run the exe right away!
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Way to send a users results to us (you) automatically via the web (if they choose to) after running the app so you can automate parsing it into the global results? Security nightmare? Would need to be IDād somehow so same user canāt submit multiple records but they can run the tool again in future to UPDATE the master results.
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Yes, renaming planes to ānice namesā but this translation table could be a nightmare to manage ongoing? Maybe itās enough to simply replace underscores (hyphens in some cases) with spaces and capitalise first letters to look nicer? Maybe some other rules to remove oddities. As long as it reads sensibly and everyone knows what plane it means it would be OK.
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I suppose the fact that some aircraft are geared towards long flights (airliners) will skew the results so am thinking of some way to normalise the results. I mean obviously if a lot more people use a specific aircraft then the hours will be higher so something like the A32NX will probably be permanently bolted to the top based just on hours and popularity (Itās the main plane I see in multiplayer).
So perhaps, take total hours of a user and work out the PERCENTAGE of hours per plane, and use the percentage as the real ranking factor, not pure hours. This will basically show each users favourites, and when combined with all other users (in your phase 2) that will standardise the results more evenly without massive gaps between positions?
Not to say the pure hours is not an interesting and valid stat to also show and track though. I wonder even if the order would change much but for sure if someone uses A320 for a long flight but actually flies more often with a Bush plane but for less hours, how could we make the Bush plane come out above? Maybe some weighting factor based on ratio of number of flights taken (is that data even there?). Probably it aināt possible thinking about it now!!
EDIT: I think % would make no difference. The only way would be to take the hours ORDER but then assign points or simply their positions and count only the order of positions to get āmost flown, not just hoursā as an alternative table to show.
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Out of curiosity is any other data stored? Distance flown / successful landings / crashes (per plane) or anything?
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I can help with UI design and front end presentation design if you need assistance there (Iām a graphic / app and web designer).
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A few more things.
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Do planes have to be installed at the time your app is run to āseeā them? Or are the names stored historically within the log?
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Not sure what those numbers after decimals could be. Guess would be some code for minutes within each counted hour but no idea how or why it would be done that way.
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Small point but there are a lot of empty rows (carriage returns) after the last entry on your generated TXT file.
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Looking at my list as example I think all the Kodiaks should be grouped. Same for Vans RV14 and 14A etc.
ā¦still thinking. And fighting with CTDās since SU9!!!
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The extract looks about right.
0056.501281 = Milviz_PC6
0036.374967 = Milviz_PC6_Tundra
0026.785676 = blackbox-aircraft-BN-Islander
0022.432875 = bigradials-aircraft-goose
0021.748934 = OZx-aircraft-Goose-G21A
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I have the same kind of thing. I donāt see anything in my LocalCache/SimObjects/Airplanes folder from before 2/28. I have the MS store version. I havenāt done a re-install or had my logbook wiped or anything, so not sure what happened.
Anyway, since 2/28 my top 10 are (the JPL C152 at second is entirely due to your top 5 aircraft thread where I rediscovered that mod!):
0026.039777 = JF_PA28_TurboArrow_III
0015.286249 = JPL_C152_Fairing
0009.977091 = FlyByWire_A320_NEO
0004.901722 = Carenado_C337_Skymaster
0004.734446 = flyingiron_spitfire
0004.600685 = SWS_Kodiak_gear_CP
0004.383791 = Headwind_A330neo
0004.219539 = Monster_NXCub
0003.476648 = Carenado_PA34_Seneca_V
0002.859624 = Asobo_C172sp_AS1000
0002.509903 = Asobo_CJ4
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Hi all, thanks for the comments I will reply in detail later.
- I have just uploaded a new version with a small tweak that now reads the decimal minutes and converts it to actual minutes.
- Also added version number to output file.
0020:24 = SWS_Kodiak_gear
0010:15 = SWS_Kodiak_tundra
0009:39 = AS_Aircraft_DHC6-300_Wheels_Pax
0005:43 = dcdesigns-aircraft-concorde
0005:41 = blackbox-aircraft-BN-Islander
I wonder if anyone knows why not all aircraft exist with data from day 1. I cannot find any other dynamically updated data here.
2 Likes
The app keeps opening up in a tiny area that I have to continually expand to see, can you set an X-Y or scalable size for it? I have a 4K desktop, not sure if that is the issue or not.
I am also on 4K here. What part of the app is that screenshot of?
Once it is run, you should just see a couple of messages in screen center and a small icon in your Tray for a few seconds while it runs. Then a file on your desktop. There is nothing to open or look at.
Perhaps a little more detail will help. OS version etc.